Shadows
by ViridianK
Summary: A Hunter is left to wander through the apocalypse trying to regain shreds of his lost humanity, but in the process of doing so he finds a group of survivors that seem to be together out of convenience rather than friendship, but something about them is captivating to him, and this is a group that he cannot just let go of.
1. Chapter 1: Stalker (Updated)

Chapter One: Stalker

_"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done" ~Alan Turing_

Hunter Introduction:

A day just after the infection began to wash over and overtake North America one person was infected and the course of his journey through the infection will forever change. He managed to overpower the hunter that had surprised him and he could feel _something_ inside him, _changing_ or _killing_ he couldn't be sure. He hoped he would die. He could not bear the thought of being turned into one of those _**things**_ that were once human. Slowly, while walking along an overgrown road in the middle of nowhere he began to feel nauseous and tried to find somewhere to sit down. He stumbled across an abandon wooden shack and quickly he passed out from exhaustion and a raging fever that had come out from being wounded by that hunter.

After a terrorizing sleep he woke in a cold sweat, having nightmares of what had happened a few days earlier, and not wanting to remember what he had done before he was attacked. He did not recognize any of his surroundings, slowly but surely he got up and walked around not knowing where he was. He walked throughout the shack and tried to find some supplies. He found a black hoodie that had a skull with wings on it and put it on. He also found some dark jeans and boots that he put on as well. He walked into the bathroom to see if there was anything he could find that would help his fever and the massive headache he was having. He walked over to the medicine cabinet and looked in the mirror. His eyes went wide with shock; he looked almost nothing like what he used to. He had fangs now instead of teeth, jagged, sharp, and yellow. His face had paled so much that he looked like a sheet of paper; his eyes were nothing but black slits inside of completely white eyeballs. He tried to scream, but the only thing that came out was a shriek that shattered the glass. He stumbled around and fell over things in his sudden fright to get away from that mirror. Rushing out the door he ran for hours on end not wanting to go back and see what he had become.

He knew what the infected could do but for some reason he didn't feel quite so... _**infected**_ as if he was infected... but also was not _completely_ infected, almost as if he was only partly infected, he knew that not all of the infected were exactly the same, even among them there were different almost, species of infected, some were crazy, others could even speak in their once human tongues and some looked like walking cadavers, skin flaking away as they walked.

While trying to find his way through the woods he felt like he would be different from any other infected, he could think, but then nobody really knew if the infected could actually think, but he did remember things from before he was infected, but even then they seemed to be fleeting memories, but one thing held strong and firm and he could not let go of it. His _**name**_ but even this seemed to be only a fleeting memory, he did not know whether this was his _real_ name, or a nickname, or some other kind of name someone had given him, but one thing was set in his mind, that he was once called _**Wren.**_

Slowly but surely he began to find his way back towards some sort of civilization, cities in the south seem to have been overrun with the infected, save for the few groups of survivors he saw trying to escape the cities, some even tried to set up places in the cities that could be used as shelters, trying to fortify them against the infected and scrounging for supplies. He began to stalk the groups he saw that fled from the cities from the shadows, he saw that they were always scavenging supplies, carrying weapons and ammo. He caught on quite quickly to what they said and did, while although he could only form words and thoughts in his mind he slowly tried to teach himself to talk again.

He noticed some survivors carried backpacks and other things to help carry supplies and couldn't help but feel he should try to _**help **_them in some way. So, he began to follow survivors to where they would scavenge for supplies, taking some of the things they could not, and when they had fallen asleep he would place them nearby with a note, barely readable, scratched into the dirt, _"Not every zombie is a demon." __Many times over, some infected tried to reach these camps when the humans were asleep, and using his claws he would silently slit their throats and drag their bodies to the supplies, leaving them by the note so that the humans could read it and hopefully understand._

~~~Main Story

He had been following this one group longer than any other now. They came running out of a mall with dozens of infected behind them. They seemed pretty well armed, most having a shotgun or a rifle or some kind of gun and always carrying some kind of medical supplies. One of them, older than the red but seeming like he would die for anyone in the group, pulled out what appeared to be a pipe bomb and yelled "Pipe bomb out!" All of them ran as hard as they could to put as much distance between them and the small horde that was amassing around that pipe bomb.

They stopped about two miles away in the middle of the woods and set up a camp. One of them, seemingly the youngest of the group, seemed like he had lived in the woods or country most of his life, he started by setting up things about fifty feet from their little camp, twigs, leaves, things to trip over so they would be alerted if anything came by. _*You should always watch the high ground…*_ He did not seem to bother with trying to set anything up in the trees, all the better, so that they didn't seem him hiding and watching them. When it had gotten late that night they all sat down around a small fire and started chatting about what they were going through.

"Youngins, where do you think we are going to go to now?" "I don't know Coach. It might be good to try and head back in to town, but it might be safer just to stay out here for a while, maybe try to find a different town or something we can hide out in for a bit." _"Did y' guys see all those zombies? Woo Coach that was a nice pipe bomb I tell you what!"_ "Yeah yeah Ellis I get it." "Hey overalls, you want to take out some of that food now or what? I'm starving!" "Hey guys, what do you think about going to camp out in that building over there?" The girl said, pointing at a building about a hundred feet away, Wren could see infected milling around in it. "I don't know little sister; I think I can see some of them creatures walking around in it." Rochelle nodded in agreement, figuring they should not waste any of the few bullets they had left. Wren watched, and they continued to talk and banter back and forth and it seemed like it had been hours once they had finally fallen asleep and Wren could move out from his perch within a nearby tree.

Wren walked over to the building and set to the task of getting rid of the infected. There was about a dozen of the common infected in there but none of them even gave him the slightest bit of attention as he walked up and slashed his claws across their throats, letting them bleed out on the floor. Wren walked up to the second floor of the building and set down his supplies. He still had several packs left, although all but two of them were empty. He still had his pack of food and ammo and one pack with a few basic medical supplies in it, gauze, alcohol, and some painkillers. He heard something break in the woods; he rushed out the building and saw two common infected stalking toward the humans' camp. He snuck over as quietly as he could, going from tree to tree. Once he was right above them he hooked his legs around the branch closest to the ground and swung down, bringing his claws across the front of both of their throats.

He went back to his hideout and grabbed his pack of food and ammo. He found a spot about twenty feet from where the survivors were at, but right in the line of sight of one of the humans when they woke up, granted they didn't move in their sleep. He put the pack down and slowly and quietly dragged the two bodies over to where he set the pack down, and spent about ten minutes scratching a message in the dirt, so that it was as easy to read as he could make it, and perched up in a tree to wait for them to wake up.

He noticed that morning when one of the humans, in a bright yellow shirt wearing a blue hat approached the supplies and eyed the message, and then looked down at the zombies lying next to it. He picked up the supplies and walked back to the group, three more humans, an older looking man, balding but seeming to be a man of morals but also seeming... distant... as if this group is one of convenience. The third, a woman who looks to be young but older than the first that Wren had spotted, wearing a pink shirt she quite literally stood out in many ways, for one, the pink shirt was a dead giveaway even in the dark of the early morning hours, and she was the only female Wren had seen since the infection began almost... *_No! How long has it been?! When did this start? When was I infected? When... when...* _

Feeling the sudden panic Wren could not help but let out a small shriek, he froze visibly, fear present in his eyes noticing one of the humans look directly towards where he was hiding, in a branch of a tree, thankfully covered thickly in leaves, this one, seeming older than the woman but younger than the older man, wore a white suit and rings, seeming to be someone that would pick a fight just for the hell of it. The others had heard it too, they began to feel wary, brandishing their guns and keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might move.

After what seemed like hours they began to move again, the first human walked up to the woman and said something to her that Wren could not make out. He saw her gesture for him to show her and he could barely hear the audible words "_Sure, let me see it Ellis."_ **Ellis.** That was this one's name, _***Ellis* **_Slowly they approached the message, the location not more than ten feet from where Wren was sitting, still covered in the thick amount of leaves on the tree, it was obvious that the woman was still on alert, especially after being told of a message near some supplies.

"What do y' make o' this Ro?"

Peering down at the message "Ro" read it and her face visibly paled, while also eyeing the corpses next to it, "_Not every zombie is a demon."_ After reading, Ro looked thoughtful for a moment and then peered around their surrounds, trees littered the place around them, save for the one thing that was almost... _out of place..._ in the area, the broken down warehouse.

"I don't know Ellis... but maybe we should back away from this building, just because this message might almost... _**seem**_ friendly, doesn't mean it is..."

With that they slowly backed away, returning to the rest of the group. Wren watched as the first human... Ellis, he was called, slowly began to open the supplies, while following other groups Wren would steal the occasional empty backpack, nothing major as some groups would even leave behind the empty carriers, why, he could not be sure, but it did give him something to store things in so long as he kept feeling the need to help people, to gain back some shred of his **_humanity_** that may have been forever lost with this infection. Wren headed back up to get some rest while they were still sitting around.

The when the sun started to come up he awoke to the sound of a shriek, jolting awake and to the window he noticed the survivors jerking their heads to the sound of the sudden piercing cry in the otherwise still morning. He could smell it, another one of those _**things**_ that infected him. He knew it by the smell, another hunter was stalking around. Slowly he crept out of the building in search of the hunter, determined to stop it from harming these humans he had almost become... attached to. Feeling somewhat more akin towards this particular group, just something about them seems... _friendlier_ almost more... _fulfilling_ about this group but he couldn't quite place it.

*_FOOD!* _There it was again, this time sounding closer to the humans. Wren quickly picked up the scent and tracked it deftly, being used to tracking because he loved to go hunting. He found the hunter sitting in a tree, eyeing one of the humans, Wren could tell in the way the hunter was tensed he was about to pounce. Almost at that exact moment of though the hunter started to lunge forward, Wren knew it would tear the throat out of the first survivor it landed on and they wouldn't stand a chance.

One of the survivors heard it shriek and it was almost too late, turning into the direction of the shriek the woman, "Ro" saw it coming straight at her and froze in place, the survivors all seemed startled when the hunter did not land on Rochelle but instead something collided with it in midair and they could hear its strangled yelp as it went careening off into the bushes with something that almost looked... _**exactly **_like it did but yet not completely like a hunter, in an instant the hunters' shrieks and yelps were cut off with a resounding *_CRACK*_ and they knew the fight was over. They stood, in stunned silence, for a few minutes wondering if that second... _thing_ would come out and attack them. It never did, so they set about gathering things up again to move on to a safe room somewhere, while trying to follow the river that was still about a mile or so away from them.

At noon the survivors set out, Ellis went back to check on the message one last time, Rochelle following him, only to find a backpack and a new message, _"Not all shadows contain something to be feared."_ With that Ellis looked at Rochelle with a confused look on his face.

"Do y' think that could be that feller that saved ya earlier Ro?"

Thinking for a moment Rochelle answered, "I don't know, but something is definitely keeping an eye on us..."

Slowly, the group began walking the distance to the river, finding a minimal amount of infected along the way. Moving up the river, the survivors came to the rundown outskirts of a city in hopes of being able to find supplies and a safe room. It was getting dark, but they trudged on anyway. Slowly walking through the city, Wren noticed the woman, Rochelle slow behind the others to check something out; they didn't seem to notice her. Wren would keep an eye on her while also watching the others move on ahead. He noticed that a few blocks away the other three had found a safe room, and had gone in to set up. Only then did he hear a quizzical voice from Ellis "Hey yall, where's Ro at?" Looking around for the first time they noticed that she wasn't with them. Suddenly, they heard a shriek from outside but didn't have the nerve to go outside.

_*Stupid! You forgot about the girl!* _Quickly and deftly Wren started jumping and leaping from rooftop to rooftop back the way they had come in search of the girl. Suddenly he heard what sounded like dozens of people running together, he found the girl, but he also found her running in the completely _**wrong**_ direction from the safe room, but then again she **WAS **being chased by a horde, so really that would probably be a logical thing that could happen. Wren heard the tell-tale sign of a smoker, and saw Rochelle being grabbed by it, quickly he leaped at the smoker, ending its life with a quick slash to the throat. Gently but as quickly as he could he picked up the human as she gasped and choked for air that had been quickly choked out of her, Leaping quickly up to the rooftop while holding her onto his back he began the trip back to the safe room. Arriving at the safe room door Wren quickly unlocked the door, spying on the humans as they opened it the first time, he leaped to where the three were sitting, setting down Rochelle and out the door in that same instant, the humans didn't even have time to register what was happening until the door had closed and Wren was gone.

Wren made the trip back to where he had spotted Rochelle stepping off to look at something, it must have seemed important because it seemed it would have only been caught out of the corner of her eye. Finding the object and picking it up, he noticed it was some kind of locket. Opening it he could see the face of Rochelle but... younger, with three other people in the picture, what seemed to be a mother, father, and sister. This could be important to her, slowly Wren closed the locket back up, careful not to damage it, and set it in his pocket and went to look for the location that he had found Rochelle being choked by the smoker.

Finding the location, Wren saw that there was still a few infected milling around aimlessly. Walking up to them Wren quickly slashed their throats as so they could not cause problems for any other humans that came through here, and quickly continued on to where Rochelle had been grabbed. He found the supplies she had been carrying, an assault rifle, barely holding any ammo, some pills, a med kit and what looked like two more clips of ammo. Wren quickly went to a rooftop where he had watched the three enter the safe room earlier, and on his rooftop where he had left backpacks he always carried with himself full of supplies.

Grabbing one backpack, he put the ammo, pills, and med kit into it while also grabbing some things from his other packs to stick in as well, things he never would have thought to grab if he had not seen survivors running around looking for medical supplies so often. He had managed to grab what he saw them get most frequently, gauze, alcohol, medical tape, and even found some actual medicines, thinking to be generous he put in some morphine as well, and gently he set the locket down into a pocket on the side of the backpack and grabbed some items from another backpack he had grabbed, grateful that he did because he figured he would never be able to write in the dirt forever.

Slowly and horribly Wren began to write a note on a piece of paper, wishing he could write in the dirt outside the door but figured it would be best to slip in leave the items inside the safe room rather than leaving it to chance and have it left outside. Silently he opened the safe room door, noticing that the survivors were sound asleep he quietly stepped up to where the woman was resting, laying the pack next to her, turning around he froze in his tracks, the first human he had seen, Ellis, was staring at him, eyes wide in disbelief. Wren forcibly removed himself from being frozen in place, scared of what would happen because the survivor had seen him and rushed out the door throwing caution to the wind and slamming it shut behind him, unfortunately waking up the other three survivors. Groggy from the sudden noise but startled none the less the survivors quickly awoke and saw that Ellis had already been awake they looked at him for an answer but he just shrugged.

"I think that fella from earlier found something for Ro." That is when they noticed the pack next to her, she looked through it with her eyes widening in disbelief at the bounty of medical supplies they received. Rochelle quickly past it out to the others calling it out loud just not believing their luck.

"Gauze.. medical tape.. alcohol... morphine... so much stuff we can use!" Then she noticed her own items that got left behind under everything else, "Even my med kit is in here, my pills too, and ammo for my M16!" The others stared at her in disbelief, Coach spoke up for the first time since they first saw their deadly shadow, "Well, that is mighty odd for someone to come leaving this stuff around, don't they need this for the apocalypse?" Ellis looked at Rochelle for a moment, smirked, and Ellis said to Coach, "I don't think our friend is someone who will need this stuff." Coach paused for a moment, remembering the hunter that had pounced on the one just earlier that day and saved Rochelle's life.

Then, Rochelle let loose a little cry of joy when she reached into the pocket of the backpack, seeing something all too familiar, the others looked at her as she opened it, disbelief and pure joy lighting up in her eyes. Nick saw the object and wondered why Rochelle seemed so happy to see it "Have you seen that locket before?" he asked, that's when Rochelle turned around and showed them what was inside of it.

"It's my family, or... at least... what it was before the infection started, although only one of them was still with me..." They decided to drop it at that and try to get some sleep, when Nick and Coach had dozed off Ellis scooted closer to Rochelle and asked her "Did that fella leave a message? He always has before." Rochelle remembered that and quickly looked through the rest of the backpack to look for one, then realizing, that something else was in the pocket of the backpack, not noticing it at first because she was so entranced by the locket. "Yeah... and this one is even stranger than the last" she said. "What's it say?" asked Ellis, leaning in to read it.

_**"Shadows beckon and fall as day turns to night and night into day."**_ At that they decided to leave it be and try to get some sleep. Ellis sat awake for a while pondering that message, while the others were asleep he decided to slip outside the safe room door to see if he could catch a glimpse of their little helper.

Wren watched from a nearby rooftop and listened as he heard the survivors talking and Rochelle's sudden shout of happiness _*Must have found the locket*_ Wren thought to himself. After a short while when everything had died down Wren noticed one of the humans step out of the safe room and close the door quietly. It was the one he had first seen, Ellis. He noticed that the human was not wandering around looking for anything, but rather, scanning shadows and buildings.

_*He's searching for Me.* _Thought Wren. He contemplated whether or not he should go down and say something or, at least try to say something to this human. Then, all of a sudden, he heard something, almost no more than a whisper, "You can come down feller." He was being called down, it was almost unreal Wren sat in utter shock for a moment that he was actually being called out from hiding. It was surreal to think that someone would want to see who has been helping them, even if this one at least, has seen what he really is.

Slowly he came down from the building he was in, and approached Ellis. The man's eyes went wide again, but only for a moment. Ellis walked up to the hunter, but was wary of his claws; still not sure what kind of control this hunter may have over himself or what not because of the infection. He asked a question that froze Wren in his tracks for what seemed like an eternity, quietly Ellis whispered, "What's your name?" Wren thought to himself for a moment, wondering whether or not he should answer. Then, in a sudden movement Wren helped up his hand, gesturing for the human to wait. He went back quickly to his rooftop, going a less direct way so as not to alert the human to where he was actually staying, and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen to try and write with. He quickly went back down to the human and looked at him. Ellis, being the optimistic person that he is noticed the pen and paper and thought to himself excited _*Holy cow! Can this guy really write?! But then again, he has been leaving notes...*_

Ellis watched as the hunter painfully and surely scrawled something on the paper before handing it to him. Ellis eyed the note carefully because of how hard it seemed to read it, and slowly tried to read it out "W... Wr... Wren? Is that your name? Wren?" The hunter gave him a slight smile, and at that Ellis gestured for the pen, which Wren handed to him and Ellis quickly scrawled something on the piece of paper. He handed it for Wren and was going to wait from him to read it but then suddenly they heard another shriek. Wren quickly looked at Ellis and gestured for him to go into the safe room and hoarsely croaked out the word "Sssssstayy..." Ellis' eyes went wide with disbelief as he went back into the safe room. A few minutes later he heard a yelp that was definitely not Wren's and wondered when the next time would be that he see the hunter.

~_ If you would like to play L4D2 add me on Steam as ViridianK, if you find others by that name read profile info it will be REALLY obvious when you find me. Updated Chapter 1! __J Hope you guys enjoy it, the big line across is separating the huge addition from the rest of the story which is just minor details/fixes._


	2. Chapter 2: Closer

chapter 2: Closer

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light" ~Helen Keller

After hearing the shriek of another nearby hunter Wren had gestured for Ellis to stay inside of the safe room. Once he was sure that Ellis was inside he quickly hurried off to go find the hunter that would cause such a disturbance. Scaling the side of a building and peering out from the rooftop Wren spotted what actually appeared to be a battle between a hunter and another infected, but what it was he could not be sure.

Leaping from the rooftop to others to try and close the distance to spy on the battle that was taking place Wren was barely able to contain screeches that were trying to force their way up his throat, barely containing the energy present in all forms of the Hunter.

Once he got closer Wren could see the battle much better and could make out curses and shouts that the **_two_** hunters were using in the infected tongue, "_Stay back!" "This is not your territory, shrimp!" *They seem... similar... almost like brothers...*_ thought Wren. They certainly fought like they knew each other, either trying to go for the throat the first chance they could get. Wren was contemplating what to do when suddenly a yelp and resounding crack jolted him from his thoughts. _"You never could beat me... now you never will..."_ he heard the remaining hunter mumble. Without thinking but knowing he should take no chances, he leaped towards the remaining hunter with the only thought of stopping this rampage lest it spread to any other humans or even the group he was protecting. Luckily, this hunter was preoccupied with his thoughts and still weary from his first battle that it didn't take much to bring him down. He leapt onto the hunters back but the hunter must have been more alert than he initially thought because the hunter was able to throw him off his back. For a moment they both stared at each other, Wren could see the utter shock that had dawned in the other hunters eyes. _*No... it can't be... It's not possible...*_ Wren couldn't believe it, but without another thought he rushed forward determined to bring the other hunter down. The other hunter seemed too caught up in shock to register what was happening and within moments he was finished, Wren bringing up his hand to slam into the hunters face, his nose being hit with so much force that it ricocheted into his brain, instantly killing him.

_*If he was still alive... there is no telling who else might be... I need to keep a closer watch on these humans*_ thought Wren. Quickly he hurried back up to his hideout to make sure no other infected came near the humans but also checked on the supplies that he still had left. _*One... two... three...* _counting his remaining backpacks he had five left, two with supplies and the other three empty and so flat that he was able to stick them into one of the other packs, he would need to go out and find more supplies the next time these humans had a break, or if they stayed in this safe room for another night.

Ellis stood at the door for a moment longer after hearing the faint yelp of a hunter off in the distant followed by complete silence. _*Gee... hope that wasn't Wren...*_ his mind was put at ease when Ellis spotted the shadow of a silhouette out of the corner of his eye climbing back up to the top of a nearby building. He could barely make out it's form doing what vaguely seemed to be like it was almost counting something... then he could see it turn around and perch at the top of the building in order to keep a watch on their safe room door. With his mind at ease Ellis was able to at least try and get some sleep.

Back on the roof top after counting and looking at his remaining supplies, Wren remember the note. He took it out of his pocket and read it, taking longer than he would think because he could barely recognize anything that was not his writing, being only so used to his own, jagged writing because he had only just re-learned how to write words, being able to form the thoughts in his mind and barely being able to get them legibly onto paper. _*Whatever y' think may be going on, whenever you think you need someone, I'll be here fer y' bud.*_ Wren contemplated whether or not he should try and scrawl a little reply on what was left of the paper and try to sneak it to Ellis inside of the safe room. Pondering for a moment what he should write, he put down the simple words _"Thank you."_ and went to give the note to the human.

Luckily enough, when he got down to the safe room door, _everyone_ was asleep so he would not need to worry about being spotted again. Carefully and silently Wren slid the safe room door open, tip toed over to Ellis, and carefully removed his hat as to not wake the human, and stuck the note under it and then replaced the hat to the top of Ellis' head. Quickly, before he lost his nerve wondering if one of the humans would wake up, Wren walked over to check out what they had left for supplies, it seems they had no food in packs, nor anywhere else in the safe room. He made a mental note to make sure he filled at least one of the empty packs with some kind of food the next time there was ample supply. They still had most of the medical supplies, which was thankful enough.

Several hours later the survivors began to stir. Stretching and popping a few joints from the _VERY_ uncomfortable stone floor of the safe house, they tried to make plans for the day. Nick spoke up saying "We might need to get some food... seems we don't have much to go around heh..." The others looked around and agreed, food would be one of the things they definitely needed to grab, they agreed to take about half an hour to wake up and get ready then they would head out into town to see what they could scavenge.

While the others stayed inside to stretch Ellis let them know he would go for a quick walk to see if he could "glimpse" their helper lurking around somewhere. They agreed that would be okay, "Don't get yourself hurt now youngin'" Coach said. Ellis promised he wouldn't and walked outside, going up to where he had seen Wren perch at the night before. On his way up he felt something under his hat. Taking it off he discovered another note, _*Gee... that fella sure can be sneaky when he wants to be... wonder when he got this under my hat...*_ With that Ellis saw it was the same piece of paper they had been using, and he tried to find the newest message on it, he found the message on the back, under the first one Wren had wrote, under his name. Two, simple, words were scrawled under his name. **_"Thank you."_** Ellis smiled at that, knowing that this was positively Wren now, and not some other hunter that would just be up there waiting to dig into a new meal.

Arriving at the roof top Ellis noticed Wren was actually asleep. _*Gee, I don't think I've ever actually SEEN the infected sleep, rest and lie down maybe, sure, but NEVER actually sleeping...* _Ellis approached him carefully, trying not to startle the hunter, but wanting to gently shake him awake by the shoulder.

_*I'm not really asleep, I guess he might think I am... considering I haven't yet moved... but let him come to me... might be warming to finally have contact with someone after weeks of helping from the shadows...* _Ellis slowly walked up, and gave Wren a gentle shake by the shoulder. His eyes jerked open and stared at Ellis intently, almost as if he had already known Ellis was there. "Heya" greeted Ellis, not really sure what to say to the hunter. "I got the message y' left me." _*So he HAD seen the message.*_ Wren thought, bringing along the slight quirk of a smile playing at his lips.

"So, guess I ought to tell ya that we are going to be heading out soon, probably in about the next twenty minutes or so to go scavenge for some supplies. Thought I might come up here though to ask ya a few questions." Wren raised an eyebrow at that, with a slightly confused look on his face, he had not really been expecting one of them to come up and actually _ask ANYTHING _about him. So he patiently waited for the first question Ellis would give him.

After a few moments of silence Ellis took that as his opportunity to ask a question, pondering for a moment Ellis said "Oh where to start... I guess... how'd y' become infected? You don't seem like most of the other hunters we've met." Wren thought for a moment, and then shrugged, not exactly remembering himself because that was becoming a fading memory in the back of his mind, it was there, but just not quite reachable... _*How was I infected? Did another one of those leapers attack me? Or was I just left for dead after being attacked while I was in a group...?*_ Wren was determined to one day bring that thought back to the forefront of his mind.

Ellis seemed a little worried at the thought of their friend not seeming to have much of a memory left but decided to go along with his next question, "Why are y' helping us? And why are you not as... _feral_ as the other hunters?" Wren thought for a moment, not being quite sure how to voice the words to convey his thought so he grabbed some more paper and a pen and scrawled his thoughts on it, not quite easy to read but he _WAS_ getting better at it as evident by his greater speed in being able to write down a note. Ellis gave the words a read _*Not completely infected but, somewhere in between, have thoughts, but not mindless ones, not the same as these other... zombies*_ Ellis smiled at the thought that this hunter might become normal, or, as normal as he could get, to being a human again. "Well buddy," Ellis said while stepping towards him to sit down next to Wren, "Hope one of your thoughts is that you will try and stay with us, it's obvious we could use the help and it's nice t' have someone to talk to that will listen, y' know?"

At this Wren shrugged, knowing what the human meant but not sure as to what to feel because he didn't really _listen_ to anything anymore unless it was important or pertained to the current situation. Ellis put his arm around Wren's shoulder, who shrank back at the sudden contact, not used to having someone trying to comfort him. Ellis didn't force him, as to not try to scare him away or frighten him into attacking. He just patiently waited for Wren to warm up to the idea of someone giving notice to him. After a few minutes Ellis got up and said "Well, I guess I might as well go back down, others might be waitin' for me to get back so we can go out and scavenge, see you later, maybe talk some more tonight?" Wren nodded at this, and watched as Ellis went back down to the other survivors. He could hear them open the door to come out to talk to Ellis. The one in the suit, Nick, said, "Dang Ellis, c'mon man we've been waiting for you to get back so we could go scavenge, Rochelle's been getting worried you got yourself into trouble again." Rochelle looked at Nick and said, "Nick calm down, It's okay." She then looked back at Ellis, remembering why he had gone out in the first place and asked, "So, did you happen to find our little friend?" Ellis replied saying, "Nope, I guess he just don't want to be found yet."

Wren sighed when he heard this, hoping to keep his distance from the ones that had not sought him out on their own. He turned around and headed for his empty packs, grabbing the three out that he had not yet been able to refill with supplies. He walked back to the edge of the roof to watch the survivors begin their trek into the city to find supplies, he was able to see Ellis slightly lag behind the others and then look up at him and wink. He must have known that Wren had overheard the conversation. Wren smiled back, and started to leap from roof top to roof top to keep up with them and make sure nothing terrible happened.

Chapter 3 teaser! :)

Ten minutes had passed and the survivors had seen no more signs of any infected coming towards the safe room. They soon began unpacking everything, Ellis went over and set his things down by the others and without another thought said "I'm going out to find our friend. I won't get m'self killed, promise." Rochelle looked at him as he was leaving and yelled after him "Ellis! Get ba-" Ellis didn't listen to another sound as he went out determined to make sure there friend was okay. Ellis made his way up to where he had met the hunter before and was dumbfounded at the sight he saw. Blood was in a shallow and small pool under Wren and he wasn't moving. Ellis rushed up to him and knelt down to try and check for a pulse, _*Don't be dead! Don't be dead! C'mon don't be dead!*_ he thought frantically, afraid to lose the friend that has been helping them for a while now.

_Heya guys! Was so glad to see i had gotten over a dozen visitors! Wasn't really expecting very many so quickly and i actually finished this one the other night but don't get too excited, chapter uploads might be a little spread out or close together in time, just depends on when I can get down to it. Also, if you happen to re-read something and notice little changes, it was changed, mostly just going to do grammar fixes cause I KNOW that bugs me when i read so I can't imagine how it is for you guys. Also, I'm trying to find a song/quote to put at the top of my chapters that can kind of give you an idea of something/what to expect. :) Enjoy!_


	3. Chapter 3: Defenseless

chapter 3: Defenseless

_"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with __**arms**__ for our defense?" ~Patrick Henry_

_Note:__This chapter contains a scene that may seem gory, if you would prefer not to read it skip over that part, I will mark it so you know where it is._

Walking along the street the survivors started to search through abandoned buildings and alleys to see if they could find anything of use, along the way shooting any infected that strayed too close for comfort. Watching from the rooftops Wren took notice of how the _common _infected seemed to only take aggression in the presence of a human, recalling that the only _infected v infected _fights he had seen were between two of the more... _complex_ infected (ie: hunter/witch/smoker/tank/etc.) while making sure he could keep the survivors in sight he quickly jumped off a building close to a group of common infected noting that they didn't even pay him the slightest bit of attention. Giving a slight snarl he notice the commons perk up and look at him, almost expectantly, as if... waiting to be _commanded_. Climbing back up to the rooftops so he could see the survivors again he thought to himself _*Might come in handy if I need assistance later... or if these humans get __**attacked.**__.* _With realizing that he may not be able to control the common infected if needed he decided to write a note, being glad that he had brought along some paper and a pen if the need arose.

Jaggedly scrawling his note down he peered it over to see if it could be easily legible by the humans _*Don't move until this door opens* _he just hoped that if it was needed there would be a door to close. The survivors entered what seemed to be like the town square, and quickly wanted into a mini mart to clear out what they could. Taking note of this Wren scurried off into a convenience store to see if he could find any non-perishable food items and other necessities they might need. Walking towards the food aisle Wren was surprised to see that the canned foods were almost untouched. Quickly he grabbed out two of his packs stuff them full of the cans, noting vegetables, fruits, and other things such as soups taking careful to leave room for water if he could find it in this store.

Walking along further Wren was delighted to see that there was at least SOME medicinal supplies left, taking note that this store had a pharmacy within it he looked to see if he could find penicillin, alcohol, gauze, or medical tape. To his dismay there was no penicillin or alcohol, but there was gauze and medical tape, and unfortunatley, only small time pain relievers, like Tylenol or acetaminophen, just generic kinds of pain relievers, although they may come in handy as to not have to waste the stronger stuff for minor things like a headache. Walking along just a few steps down Wren saw what appeared to be bottles of vitamins, pondering for a second whether or not they might be needed, concluding that since they were needed before the infection began, it might be smart to take some seeing as how sparse some things are nowadays.

Walking towards the drinks section of the store Wren was delighted to see that there was still some water left, although it looked like only about three cases one already ripped open, although totaling to about sixty bottles that would be plenty to stash in the packs. Wren was able to fit three bottles into each of his already refilled bags and two on the sides, totaling ten bottles between the two and grabbed his empty one out and was able to fit in another seven while leaving room in case he found something that might seem very important to grab. What he could not grab Wren dragged to the front of the store and tried to organize it in some way so if the survivors came in this store they would not have to go far to find supplies.

_*If only they knew what I used to be...*_ quickly, Wren pushed these thoughts down to keep them from resurfacing. Apparently, Wren's loss of memory wasn't as thorough as he thought, knowing that if those thoughts were to ever resurface completely he didn't know what could happen.

Within a short amount of time Wren was able to get all the water he had found, the medicine, and a good amount of non-perishable foods close to the front of the store. He peered outside the window to see if any of the survivors had come out of any buildings yet, they hadn't so he decided to quickly take his packs back before anything might happen.

After a few minutes Wren was able to return his packs to his hideaway and start making the trek back. On his way there he could faintly here something, stopping for a second he strained his hearing trying to pick it up again. What he caught frightened him and made him pour on the speed, _*They're in the square! Go! Now! Kill the humans!*_ Wren could only make that out as a hunter and heard shuffling feed of what must have been about a dozen of the common infected. Quickly getting back to where the survivors were Wren didn't know how much time there could be until the other infected arrived. Glancing around quickly Wren tried to locate the survivors and he heard them before he saw them, thankfully they were all in one building pouring on as much speed as he could and not caring about stealth Wren appeared at the door in a flash took out the note set it inside and slammed the door with such force some of the walls shook and was sure that the humans would come running to find out what had happened.

"Did yall hear that?" yelled Ellis, "I think someone might have gotten in here!" All four of them began running to the front of the store to find the door shut but no sounds of infected or other humans present. Nick saw a piece of paper and picked it up, noting that it wasn't there when they came in and handed it over to Ellis who quickly had Rochelle peering over his shoulder, "This from your buddy Ellis?" Nick questioned him. "Yea I reckon so," Ellis replied. Rochelle quickly asked "What does the note say Ellis?" Ellis gave it a quick read over only noticing the hand writing before and let them all know what it said. _"Don't move until this door opens." _Coach looked at him dumbfounded, "What do you think that means?" Before anyone could answer their question was answered by the sound of the shrieks from two hunters and the sound of several common infected running into the square fast, they all stood their frozen in fear, hoping that one of those hunters was Wren.

Wren stood in front of the store ready for the onslaught of the infected, he knew these common infected wouldn't give him the slightest though knowing that the hunter commanding them was the biggest threat but he would have to take care of them quickly. The other hunter stood back from the rest of the common infected to watch his forces work. He stood their quizzically wondering why there was another hunter standing in their way. The only thing he got as an answer to his thoughts was the other hunter shrieking in the infected tongue, _"Turn back now or die!" _At this he wondered if the other hunter thought he had sent the infected in after him, but he stayed back to see what would come about.

~~~~~~~~~~~Fight scene starts here~~~~~~~~~~~

Preparing himself, Wren quickly eyed the forces that were coming at him. Noting ten common infected and the hunter lurking in the background. Wren brought up his knee and brought the first common's head down on his knee, cracking its skull and sending chunks of brain and blood flying all over the place. He quickly brought his claws up slashing the throats of the next two infected letting their blood spill forth like water from a fountain and sent them flying back tumbling and disorienting the next four. The remaining three that were incapacitated thought they were strong enough to take him down and kept running, uselessly they came in one at a time the first two falling easily to Wren using so much force to throw a punch that he sent their noses back up into their brains bringing them dead before they could even react. The third one was no bother, quickly having its throat slashed. Wren quickly pounced the four that were not yet dead making sure to bring them down quickly, upon killing the last one Wren picked him up and sent him crashing through the door to the store. As soon as the door flew open Wren noticed the survivors sitting there with shocked expressions on their faces and heard a slight growl trickle from the other hunter's mouth.

Eyeing him down Wren gave him a warning _"Turn back now or die. Slowly." _Fixing the hunter with a glare that would slow even a tank the other hunter seemed unfazed. _"Heh heh heh... you've been practicing Wren." _cackled the hunter. Wren felt visibly shaken that this hunter knew his name. Seeing that this hunter was trying to take him off his guard Wren took that as his chance to strike, pouncing the hunter and tearing back flesh and blood with his claws before leaping back to avoid a strike from the flailing hunter. Before Wren could recover the other hunter was on him driving his claws through Wren's left shoulder pulling back with it skin and a fair amount of blood with a yowl of plain Wren kicked the hunter off of himself and stumbled back, he knew his arm wouldn't be useful much longer, at least not without an excruciating amount of pain and the blood that was quickly seeping out of it. _*I need to end this quickly... but how...*_

Meanwhile the survivors sat there with complete shock on their faces. Not knowing what to do since that infected was sent crashing through the front door. Ellis was jolted from his shock when he saw Wren leap back and kneel down clutching his left shoulder. The only thing Ellis could think to do was grab a weapon and try to shoot the other hunter. Picking up a hunting rifle Ellis took careful aim but couldn't see much through Wren's body, the first chance he got he took a shot and it went right through the second hunter's leg. With a yowl of pain the other hunter glared at Ellis with such intense hatred he thought he was going to die right on the spot, but Wren, sensing the opening, leapt at the other hunter and was able to bring him down quickly, while the other hunter was flailing about but obviously crippled from his shout out leg Wren was able to bring up his good arm and brought his clawed hand down around the hunters neck. Fear and recognition dawned in the other hunter's eyes a split second before Wren was able to rip out his throat, letting the blood pool around them.

Wren wasn't sure what to do, he was losing blood fast but did not know if he could approach the survivors for help, he wasn't sure who shot the hunter and in that moment he couldn't think as he faintly heard the calls of common infected that would soon be rushing into the square. Wren took one quick look at the survivors, and they were able to recognize fear in his eyes. Hoarsely he was able to yell out the word **_"Rrrunnnn!"_** without another thought they grabbed their supplies and were off without another warning they were off running at full speed back towards the safe room. Wren lagged behind to make sure none of the infected were able to catch up to them, the first thing he was able to glance was that he only saw about thirty of them but he could hear more of them coming. **_"Turn back or die!"_**Wren screamed in the infected tongue but they just kept coming. He did not know how long he would be able to hold out to let the survivors get to safety.

Quickly running along the ground towards the survivors he saw the glint of a pistol and stooped to grab it with his good arm as he ran past it. Turning around he took aim at the encroaching infected and was able to take several of them down before he heard the click of the pistol running out of ammo, tossing it with all his might into the head of the closest infected, knocking it completely out and kept running. Every time one of the infected was gaining on him he slowed down to slash its throat open and let its blood pool along on the ground. Hearing a startled shout ahead Wren turned quickly to focus on what had caused the noise, Nick was lying on the ground and the other survivors were still rushing ahead.

Cursing his luck that he only had one good arm Wren rushed forward stooping down to grab Nick and took off, barely losing any speed. Wren poured it on and soon was able to catch up to the other survivors as they were entering the safe room and was able to set Nick down so they could usher him in. Wren turned around to face the encroaching infected and shrieked again **_"Draw your last breath!" _**

****At that Wren launched himself at the nearest infected which thankfully was still a good distance away from the door to the safe room, though he doubted any of them would be able to open the door he was still determined to make sure none of them got so far as to even touch the door. Wren noticed now that there was only about twenty infected left, wondering what had happened to some of the other ones he was determined to bring them down, he faintly recognized the sounds of a rifle behind him and noted that some of the zombies were not dropping but some of the shots were few and far in between with the way he was moving.

As often as he could the second Wren killed one of the infected he sent it flying back to crash into the others to knock them down. After about six agonizing minutes Wren was able to relax with all of the infected being dead. He heard no more gunshots from the safe room so he knew that he wouldn't be shot if he approached them, at least not right away, anyway. Without turning to look behind him Wren's only though was to climb up to his little *campsite* grudgingly knowing he couldn't very well climb up quickly with the way his left arm was now. Quickly once he got to the top of the building he grabbed a package of gauze out of one of his packs along with some medical tape and started wrapping the wound. The blood loss had slowed and Wren put as much pressure on the wound as he could while cleaning it out and then eventually wrapping it up, soon after though, Wren passed out from the exhaustion of the fights and being light headed from his loss of blood.

**~~~END OF FIGHT SCENE~~~**

Ten minutes had passed and the survivors had seen no more signs of any infected coming towards the safe room. They soon began unpacking everything, Ellis went over and set his things down by the others and without another thought said "I'm going out to find our friend. I won't get m'self killed, promise." Rochelle looked at him as he was leaving and yelled after him "Ellis! Get ba-" Ellis didn't listen to another sound as he went out determined to make sure there friend was okay. Ellis made his way up to where he had met the hunter before and was dumbfounded at the sight he saw. Blood was in a shallow and small pool under Wren and he wasn't moving. Ellis rushed up to him and knelt down to try and check for a pulse, _*Don't be dead! Don't be dead! C'mon don't be dead!*_ he thought frantically, afraid to lose the friend that has been helping them for a while now.

Ellis found a pulse, weak but steady, and could hear Wren taking short and shallow breaths. Ellis decided he would stay up here for a little longer to see if their friend woke up and needed anything. After about five minutes Ellis was getting up to head back to the safe room and heard a mumbled groan coming from Wren. Ellis kneeled down next to him and waited for him to come around, when Wren was finally coherent enough to see around him he was confused and shocked to see Ellis sitting next to him. "I saw what y' did and watched y' stumble away after the fighting was done. Wanted to check and make sure y' were ok." At that Wren winced and grabbed his shoulder, Ellis looked at him, not sure what to do. Wren saw the concern etched into his face and motioned towards his packs and mumbled _"Tttwwoooo..."_ Ellis understood what he meant and hurried over and grabbed the second pack and brought it over to Wren. Wren quickly unzipped it with his good hand and brought out a bottle of water and a bottle of morphine pills. Wren quickly poured two pills into his hand and swallowed them down along with a full bottle of water.

Ellis glanced at his wound and noticed it hadn't been thoroughly cleaned out. He grabbed some alcohol and gauzed out of the pack noticing the medical tape and wrap that was sitting next to Wren. When Wren looked at him confused Ellis said to him "Gonna clean out yer wound, so it doesn't get infected." Wren gave a slight nod and let Ellis go to work, noting that where the hunter had gone into his shoulder he now had a wide rip in his hoodie where there was no longer any fabric left, leaving most of his shoulder exposed. Ellis got to work and slowly unwrapped his shoulder and removed the gauze Wren had left under there. He wet some of the gauze with alcohol and gently cleaned out the wound, pulling back every time he heard Wren wince or give a slight whimper at the pain. After about two minutes of washing it out Ellis was satisfied with his cleanup job and wrapped Wren's wound back up and asked Wren if he could move him to sit somewhere else. Wren nodded weakly in agreement and Ellis moved him a couple feet away from the pool of blood and then sat down next to him and put his arm around Wren's good shoulder.

"Thanks for what y' did today buddy. I don't know what might of happened if you hadn't been there t' help us out." Wren purred slightly at the thankfulness he was receiving from Ellis. Ellis gave a slight chuckle at this and they sat in silence for a little bit. After a while Wren pointed towards his packs and said _"Thrreeee." _It took Ellis a second to completely process what he had said, almost thinking he had said _*tree*._ He walked over and grabbed the pack then brought it back over to Wren. Wren, with his good arm, slowly unzipped it and showed the supplies to Ellis. Ellis took in a breath of air when he noticed what Wren had him get, the pack was full of food and water! He couldn't believe it, he looked at Wren with such a look of confusion on his face that Wren gave a slight smirk at him. Wren then closed up the pack and pointed down and said "Ootherssss" Ellis took that to mean that he had stocked that pack for all of them, but then again almost everything Wren _had_ was for them, feeling a bit surprised that he had even used any of this on himself. Ellis nodded and just stayed next to Wren for a little while longer.

After about half an hour Wren had dozed off to sleep and Ellis gently set him down, whispered the words _"thank you" _ as he left with the pack to go back to the safe room. When he got back to the safe room and stepped inside Rochelle tackled him with a hug "God Ellis don't scare us like that! You've been gone for almost two _HOURS_!" Ellis looked at her and chuckled, "Sorry Ro, our friend had a bad wound and I was helping him to clean it out and he gave me a pack to bring back, though I waited fer 'im to fall asleep first."

"Oh, that's good to know that he's alright" Ellis noticed her grab her locket, probably remembering the item Wren had managed to get for her, he could see the relief washing over her face, _*So she IS worried about him too, heh heh* _Ellis thought to himself. Ellis set down the pack and opened it up to show them what was inside, they all had such a surprised look on their face Ellis couldn't help but laugh at them. "Ellis, he really got ALL this?!" Nick asked him, amazed. "Sure did Nick, he also had some other stuff with him, which is how I was able to help 'im." "Well, your buddy sure does known what to get then, Ellis." Said Coach, grabbing a can of corn and some water. At this they all sat around and talked, relaxing since this was the first bit of food they have had in a while, especially nice after their scare today with the horde of infected showing up out of nowhere.

When Wren woke up it was night time, late evening from the looks of it because he could still see the sun setting in the distance, although barely. His first thought was that his arm felt immeasurably better than it had earlier before he fell asleep and was now able to move it quite a bit, though too much at once and he could feel a sting of pain coming into his arm. Before he got up to do anything he grabbed two more morphine pills and swallowed them down with some more water. Then he remembered the supplies he had taken to the front of one of the buildings, he faintly remembered that the survivors had not been in that building when the fight occurred earlier. He made his way back over on ground level, noticing a few linger commons and took them out with slashes across the throat so they wouldn't be in his way on the walk back over. Once he got over to the store he started dragging stuff back to the safe room bit by bit. He was able to get the remaining two cases of water to the safe room no problem and then the empty case he was able to load the rest of the stuff inside and begin dragging it back over.

After about five minutes dragging the last case over Wren finally got it stacked on top of the water. Doing that much had exhausted him and he was still in pain from his fight earlier, noting the pain that was now flaring up in his arm. With his breath slowing and sleepiness overtaking him Wren promptly collapsed next to the cases in front of the safe room.

_Heh heh! Was fun to type this one up last night. Very much enjoyed it, although some of you might not find the scene as gory as i PROBABLY made it out to be, i marked it anyway, even though I know i could imagine it much better than what i can write out sadly =( Definitely do NOT expect Chapter 4 as quickly as these have come, im going to be pretty dang busy this weekend heh heh. Hope you enjoyed it! Ill try to type out a teaser for it eventually (Note: These may be things i type out and evolve the chapter around it) Also, ideas if you have any! Would love to evolve chapter(s) around your guys' ideas!_


	4. Chapter 4: Memories

Chapter 4: Memories

_"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." ~Marcus Tullius Cicero_

Ellis awoke to the sound of a thud outside the safe room door. He peered outside and his heart skipped a beat at the sight he saw, supplies outside the door and Wren was passed out next to hit, with a little bit of blood trickling from his wound, _*Dang it Wren, did you really re-open that thing?!*_ Ellis thought slipping outside the door quietly so he didn't wake everyone else up. He noticed Wren's hand was sitting on top of some paper with a pen lying on the ground. Ellis picked it up and wrote a note down quickly for the others if they woke up, _*Saw Wren passed out, don't worry, found him next to this stuff right outside the door, ~Ellis*_

After setting the note on top of the supplies Ellis picked Wren up and draped his good arm over Ellis' shoulder and started back up to where he knew Wren kept his camp site. While making his way back up there Ellis could make out things coming from Wren, aside from the slight mumble or other sound he occasionally made in his sleep he could barely make out audible words, _*No... no... away...*_ Ellis didn't know what he was dreaming about but didn't think it could be good, so he decided not to try and wake the hunter, in case he freaked out.

Ellis set Wren down and got to grabbing some supplies to try and clean out his wound. Ellis could barely make out more words slipping from under Wren's shallow breathing _*Run! No... can't...*_ Ellis hoped he would wake up soon, he didn't think it would be good for Wren to remain in what seemed like a nightmare about the first days of the infection. Looking him over, Ellis noticed he didn't seem to old, perhaps his late teens? Maybe seventeen or eighteen? Ellis would have to see if he could still remember anything like that.

Grabbing some alcohol and gauze Ellis slowly removed the wrappings around Wren's shoulder and slowly cleaned it out, hoping it didn't jolt Wren awake at sudden pain. Ellis could hear Wren wince slightly and heard him mumble even more _*No! Don't leave them!*_ Ellis was now very worried about Wren hoping he would wake up soon. After about ten minutes Ellis had the wound cleaned out and dressed it back up again, making sure to wrap it tightly. Noticing again the big rip and tear in Wren's hoodie Ellis thought he should go out and try to find him a new one.

Quickly walking down to the bottom of the building Ellis eyed the other ones that were relatively close to the safe room, noticing a clothing store he slipped inside eyeing the name to be _*Woodman's Hunting Apparel*_ noticing an advertising for camouflaged clothing including some hoodies. _*Might be_ good for him if we need to get **_out_** _of town eventually...*_ Ellis slipped inside and started looking around. He saw some clothing and tried to remember what size Wren might be, he was a similar build to Ellis but not quite as tall, so he grabbed stuff that was just a couple inches off of what he needed to wear himself.

Grabbing a bag and putting some clothing in Ellis made out of the store so he could get back to Wren. Watching carefully around himself as Ellis made his way back down the street he could see something scurrying around in the shadows. It looked like a hunter but it also looked too... _small_ almost. For a second Ellis toyed with the idea of it possibly being a **_huntress_** but quickly pushed that thought down, they'd seen hundreds of hunters since the infection began and not a single **_ONE_** of them was a girl. Ellis hurried along a little quicker pushing away his thoughts that he just **_might_** just be followed by someone.

Getting back up to Wren's camp site Ellis set the bag of clothing down near Wren's packs and sat down next to Wren. Once he sat down he could hear a rush of emotion coming from Wren and thought he might be close to being jolted awake _*No... no... no... NO!*_ the last one was ended with a shriek and Wren jolted awake with such force Ellis was barely able to hold the frantic hunter down as he fought to get away, apparently not recognizing who was holding him.

After a few long grueling moments of trying to keep him contained, Wren recognized Ellis and started to calm down. _"Ssssoryyy" _he managed to hiss out. "'S all right." Ellis said to him. "Havin' a nightmare bud?" Wren gave him a nod. "I'm here if y' need me Wren." Leaning into his shoulder, Wren let loose a sigh and a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when he had woken up from his nightmare and not still been by the safe room.

_*It's all coming back now... the infection... the dwindling survivors... the mutations.. the people I...* _Wren quickly shoved these thoughts to the deepest part of his mind he could reach hoping they wouldn't resurface again for at least a good amount of time. Ellis could see something was wrong with him and decided to put out the inevitable discussion, "Hey Wren, I'd kinda... like to know more about y'" Wren looked up at him, a noticeable tinge of fear present in his eyes. Ellis wasn't sure what to make of this but tried to reassure Wren "Don't give me that. I don't care what you used to be or what's happened, your still my friend." Wren sat there, silent for a long time, and then gave a sigh. He grabbed a good amount of paper and took out his pen and wrote down the words _*Where to start?* _Ellis thought for a moment "Hmm... Do you remember what you did before the infection started?" Wren looked at him for a moment, trying to remember himself, when he remembered he had been a student at a medical school he slowly started to form the word in his mouth hoping something more than growl would come out considering he'd never tried to say this word before. "Sssstudenttt" Ellis perked up at being able to get an answer, feeling relieved that Wren was able to remember some more of his past than what Ellis thought he might be able to so he decided to try and push a little bit further.

"Do y' remember what kind of student?" Wren did, and he pointed at the medical supplies that were sitting on the ground next to the two of them. "Medic? Doctor?" At this Wren scratched his head, he wasn't sure how to signal it to Ellis, he hadn't yet though of what to do long term in Med. School, without being able to come up with an idea Wren held up one finger, and then two, hoping Ellis would be able to understand where he was going with this. "Combination of 'em?" Ellis asked him, at that Wren just shrugged and wrote down _*Wasn't sure what to be.*_

Now that Ellis understood why Wren seemed to have such an affinity with medicinal things he decided to ask the toughest question he would be able to think of and hoped Wren would answer. "So... I know y' might not really want to talk about this but... what was the nightmare you were having... was it from the first days of the infection...?" Ellis could see stark horror written across Wren's face and could see tears starting to brim the edges of his eyes. He put his shoulder around Wren and pulled him in "Don't worry, your okay here, nothing is going to hurt ya." Wren fiddled with his pen, not sure if he should write anything down, lest it betray his thoughts. After a few moments Wren let out a sigh and decided to write some words down. _*Don't understand... they still can...*_ Ellis wasn't sure to take of this and asked Wren if he could explain. Wren was able to croak out "Tryyy" and started trying to retell the story of what had happened to him.

About a week after the infection began Wren was working in a medical lab to study the infection to see if they could find some kind of cure. Not realizing the extent the infection had taken on the surrounding population the zombies were slowly encroaching on their hideout, overwhelming the guards within days.

Wren and about ten or so other scientists and medical students fled with whatever weapons they could get. Slowly but surely one by one they succumbed to the infection. Wren was the merciful angel of the group, convincing people that every time someone became infected, that they should just leave them behind to whatever would come of them. That had been a mistake. Several of them came back after them with a vengeance, enraged at being left to die and rot away into nothing as dust for the rest of time.

Looking back now, Wren knows they should have ended their lives but he just **_couldn't_** he wasn't that kind of person, he wasn't just going to let people die because they **_might_** come back and try to kill them later down the road, that was a whole different story nowadays though. Wren knew what these infected were like, and he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of living another day if he ever had to face them again. Remembering back to their research Wren had remembered once crucial fact, and that being because he was the one who had discovered it. Immunity to the infection was genetic, much like hereditary diseases, the immunity to the infection was a kind of hereditary anti-body and resulted in one of two things in the infected. First and foremost, every infected person with these antibodies would become what the survivors would call the "Special Infected" but during the research the things Wren had noticed was that the Special Infected would take two turns. One would go the way he had gone, being able to retain thought and able to do many actions other infected could not do. The others continued to be lifeless zombies much like the commons but deadlier and bent on destroying any living thing that didn't carry the scent of something that had long been infected.

After recounting his story with hoarsely croaking out words and writing them down Ellis had gotten the general idea that Wren had been one of the people tasked with finding a cure and more things out about the infection to try and stave it off so stability could be brought back to the world of the living. Ellis had one last curious question though about the group he had been travel with, he wanted to know what had happened to the others. Wren chewed his lip at this, which seemed to be a nervous habit of his and decided to tell Ellis what happened. The ones that had been left behind because Wren had convinced the others not to shoot them, they had come back, and one by one the rest of the group was ripped apart in front of their eyes until only Wren and one other person remained. With the final confrontation Wren and the head researcher had been running from the infected for almost two weeks, a hunter had pounced on Wren from behind and Wren's mentor had wrenched the hunter from his back before he could do any damage and picked Wren up and they took off through the woods. Moments later that hunter came crashing into his mentor, Wren turned around to see his mentor trying to fight off the hunter, screaming for Wren to help him. Wren didn't know what to do, instead he took off running into the woods and not looking back. He ran for what seemed like hours and hours until he couldn't run anymore and nearly died of exhaustion in a wooden shack in the middle of nowhere.

At this Ellis' mood darkened a bit, not sure what to think knowing that there may be other infected out there looking for Wren to kill him. Wren noticed Ellis was deep in thought and tugged at his shirt. With Ellis' attention in him he wrote down _*other hunter*_ and pointed to his shoulder. Understanding seemed to dawn in his eyes and he stuttered out "Y-y-you mean... the other hunter...?" Wren nodded a "yes" to him and they sat there in silence for a few minutes.

After a short while they heard frantic screeching from somewhere down the road and could hear the sounds of many infected running and what seemed to be like a very human sounding zombie commanding them. They looked out over the top of their building and could see about thirty infected in all following what seemed to be like a small hunter, "Hey! I saw that hunter earlier when I was on my way back! I thought I was jus' seein' things!" Wren zeroed in on the hunter, noticing it was trying to run in their direction and looked at its face, something seemed familiar about it, it took a moment for him to place it but then he made the connection and croaked it out to Ellis, "Locket!" he pointed to the safe room and then to the hunter. Understanding dawned in Ellis' eyes, this was Rochelle's little sister! With that last thought they rushed down the stairs and hoped they could stop the other infected from tearing the huntress to pieces.

_Heya! Sorry I was going to upload this last night but I was talking to a friend while typing this and after I was done i had to go to sleep haha, had to get up earlier today than normal. Hope you guys enjoy this one, yes its short but it is mainly background on Wren as well as introducing a new character (fill in) don't worry, i will definitely make it worth it for her to just be a fill in. Please leave your ideas in a review if you have one! I would LOVE to develop a chapter around my reader's ideas! :)_


	5. Chapter 5: La Guerra

Chapter 5: La Guerra (The War)

_~"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting"~ Sun Tzu_

~"Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil."~ Niccolo Machiavelli

~~~~~~Fight Scene~~~~~~

Rushing down the stairs Wren and Ellis could hear shouts going back and forth between the infected. It seemed like they were trying to capture the huntress but for what they couldn't be sure. On the way down they could hear the huntress yell _"You'll never take me worm! I'll die before I ever help you after what you did!"_ As an answer they heard something that sounded disturbingly like a smoker, because they could hear a rough cough before he yelled back, _"You will join us one way or another, you are too useful to kill little one!"_

_"After what you worms have done the only way you'll have me is when I'm dead!" _as a reply to this the smoker shouted seemingly the only thing that would get the huntress to stop in here tracks, _"But Jade... don't you want to see your __**SISTER?" **_At this "Jade" stopped in the street and Ellis and Wren were down in the door, waiting to come out. She turned around with such a glare of hatred that Ellis and Wren almost shrunk back at the thought of even trying to help the huntress. _"My sister is dead."_ Jade said with such stone cold certainty they couldn't help but believe she thought this was true. _"Don't believe everything your told Jade, not even by those who seek you for your skills, heh heh heh!"_ At this point Wren and Ellis could feel the hatred emanating in such waves from "Jade" that they thought she would rip off the heads of the first things that came within leaping distance. Then, she said one final sentence before rushing headlong into the infected army, _"La Guerra begins then, Sanderval."_

Jade rushed headlong into the infected army, taking them down left and right. She seemed to move faster than any hunter they've ever seen, and with claws almost as long and deadly as a witches. The first infected, before they could even react to the coming danger had their necks sliced from side to side, and slowly they slid to the ground, blood pouring from the now open wounds, and lives ended in mere seconds. Jade glared at Sanderval and said _"You die before your army does, worm."_ Wren and Ellis could see the glint of fear coming into Sanderval's eyes and wondered if this huntress actually _NEEDED_ any help to stop these infected.

Sanderval responded with _"Whether I die or the next dies, you will be ours and this city as well." _An evil smirk quirked up on Jade's lips and she responded with the most threatening snarl they've ever heard, _"Your war ends here Sanderval. And soon, so will Daver's (Da like in dad, then ver so the name doesn't seem odd to say) life, and any infected who follow him. You will not take this city until I lie dead on the streets." _Wren and Ellis could see Sanderval's courage wavering. Soon, Jade had nearly halved the infected army. Tearing into them so quickly and fiercely she was onto the next one before the others could fall, digging into them suspiciously like a hunter but with the fury of a witch, raking her claws in so deeply she split their bodies open cracking apart ribs and spewing out pints of blood all over the place, it was starting to show how much she was relishing turning on the other infected and ripping them to pieces.

Before Jade could get any closer to Sanderval a tongue wrapped around her legs and arms and took her to the ground, they could hear Sanderval laughing down the street _"Now you will join us. NOW you will SUBMIT HUNTRESS!"_ **_"OVER MY DEAD BODY WORM!"_** Ellis and Wren were sure she wouldn't be able to get out of this on her own, they rushed out the door, Ellis raised his rifle and shot a round off into the air. Turning towards them the infected began to growl and struggled against the urge to ignore Sanderval and rush down the street to tear into the newcomers. Ellis yelled "Come n' get it uglies!" and the battle was on. Wren stood only feet in front of Ellis while he shot the infected down, if one so much as gone within five feet in front of Wren he tore into it with more rage than Jade, with an overwhelmingly protective instinct backing him up on the rage, the pain from his still healing arm flushed out by his protective lust for blood.

Jade was still wrapped in the smokers tongue, spouting curses while he commanded his remaining infected to take care of this strange hunter and human. Ellis saw an opening and took his shot at Sanderval, severing his tongue, figuring Jade should be the one who had the honors of ripping him to pieces. After finishing off the remaining infected Ellis and Wren approached Jade, who had Sanderval firmly held by the throat, slowly choking the life out of him with an intense hatred present in her unwavering glare. _"Any last words, Worm?" _In his last gasping breath Sanderval gave not a curse, but a warning, _"You will all be dead before the week's end! Daver's army will wash over the city like a tide of blood! Nothing will esc-" "ENOUGH!"_ and with that final word Jade snapped his neck in two, letting his blood slowly seep out around his dead corpse.

_~~~FIGHT SCENE OVER~~~_

_"Die well, you old fool."_ With that Jade turned around to glare at her visitors. _"Give me one reason I should let you foolhardy idiots live."_ Ellis wasn't sure how to respond but Wren spoke up, using the infected tongue that all the infected zombies knew, _"What that smoker had said, do you know of a locket, and who is on it?"_ Jade's glare wavered, and her eyes seemed to soften at a long lost memory.

_"That locket is a long lost memory, nobody that was in it remains, past lives should remained buried where they are." _ **_"Not all memories remain buried, huntress. One such memory still walks the world of the living, and she travels with this one." _**Wren finished this statement by jabbing a thumb back towards Ellis who looked confused. She looked at him and said _"Since you fools decided to step into this battle, take me to the one you travel with, I will tell you about who these infected are, and if this is truly who you lead me to believe it is, I won't kill you." _Ellis nodded nervously, and together the three starter back towards the safe room, but Ellis noticed a wound on her shoulder and made the suggestion to go up to Wren's camp site. Jade snarled, taking that as a sign they thought she was weak, but Wren spoke up in the infected tongue _"Not even the infected are immune to the disease, Huntress."_

_"Disease or not from this wound, no pain will surface at the thought of a living memory from before this war began." __**"Then allow us a while to treat the wound, no one lost should see their loved ones like this" **__"Agreed. Take me to your camp site then and clean this wound out." _Reaching the camp site, Wren and Ellis grabbed out supplies to clean out Jade's wounds while she told them her story. _"Daver, he leads a group of infected that are trying to wall off from the rest of the world. They are going to trap as many humans as they can behind a wall, and hunt them down for sport. He believes that the infected are now the superior humans, and that everyone else should be wiped off the planet. He wants me, because unlike others, I am one of the ones who are not completely controlled by this disease, __**I can think.**__ I am not some mindless monster wandering the streets with no thoughts but eat, sleep, and kill"_ "So who was the feller that brought the army into town?" _"That was Sanderval, one of Daver's lieutenants, he commanded a small contingent Daver created to hunt down any infected that left his command." _"How did y' escape 'em?" _"Heh... Daver never suspected my true motives, never understood what my thoughts were. I will kill humans yes, but I will not do so blindly with manic thoughts of being *superior* to what we once were. I know what we are now, and Daver is just a mindless maniac that needs to be put down."_

"So what about this thread Sanderval spat at us? These other infected?" _"Ah... yes.. Daver's lap dogs... Daver knows that I am more dangerous than anyone in his army, even him. I'm what you might call... a hybrid infected, I'm sure you've notice what it was in combat, I move faster, fiercer, and my claws resemble that of a witch." _"Yea, why is that, miss?"

_"Heh, the infection is a virus, it mutates and changes, responding to its environment and its host. It warps the mind, using it against the persons self. I was infected by a hunter, so in turn I would be mutated with that genetic formation of the infection. The witch however, and every special infected formation is influenced by circumstances and the environment, you might almost call it, a "psycho" infection perhaps? The circumstances surrounding the creation of a witch were not great enough to overcome that of the hunter, I was tormented by what I had and the thought of what I would become, but most of all, I was tormented with grief by the thought of losing my sister, Rochelle. I never found out what happened to her."_

"Heh, well miss, y' might be able to find out soon enough." Jade raised an eyebrow at Ellis, _"What are you talking about?"_ "Well, y' know what Wren said to ya earlier, about a locket? Rochelle almost died getting it, Wren here found it and brought it to her." Jade looked at Wren, a grateful smile playing at her lips. _"Well, you aren't all bad, "Wren"". __**"Thank you, huntress." **_replied Wren in the infected tongue. A question had been nagging in the back of Wren's mind since he had first heard the name of the infected's leader, so he decided to ask the huntress. **_"Huntress, what was the name of this leader Sanderval was speaking of?" _**Jade looked at Wren begrudgingly, _"His name is Daver. He is a madman who seems to more about this disease than anyone left living or dead." _Wren couldn't believe it, after all this, the one he had left behind was still alive, driven mad by the infection, and with the knowledge he has he could very well be the end of the human race. **_"How many does he have in this army? How many follow the words of a madman to their deaths?"_**_ "Even I don't truly know how many he had, all I can say is that he can bring any number of infected to his side. The humans he traps behind the wall, if they don't use them for sport, they use them to bolster their army. Daver is purposely allowing humans with certain genetics to reproduce, knowing that he can create his lieutenants this way." _

Wren was lost deep in thought, pondering the meaning of Jade's words, Ellis looked at him curiously, not sure what to think and was almost scared to ask what this might mean for the rest of their time through the infection. Jade brought Wren out of his thoughts when she said _"Take me to Rochelle. We have much to discuss that involves the lives of everyone in your little group."_ So they did, they walked down the building and out onto the street, stopping in front of the safe room to the sounds of the other survivors still snoring away. "Y'all wait here, I'll go in n' wake 'em all up." Ellis opened the door and slipped in, shaking the survivors awake, much to their begrudging dissatisfaction with being waken up during an almost peaceful sleep, and the longest they've ever had since the infection started several months ago. Once the other three survivors had woken up Ellis tried to perk them all up and looked at Rochelle and gave her a big smile. "I think I got someone y' might want to meet Rochelle." "What do you mean, Ellis? You been out somewhere again?" "Heh, jus' follow me outside, Ro." They walked out of the safe room, all three instantly recognizing Wren, nobody recognized this second smaller hunter, Rochelle looked at both Ellis and Wren and asked, "Who's this?" Jade smirked, and replied with _"Always find the truth, do it for the greater good of the community, isn't that right, Rochelle?"_ Rochelle looked shocked and almost like she would faint right on the spot.

"J-j-j... Jade?" _"It's nice that you still recognize me, even after the damage the infection has done to me. We have much to talk about, and I fear we don't have much time left to do it before we have to run. Start packing everything you can carry while we talk."_ Wren and Ellis looked at her confused and Wren asked, using the infected tongue,**_ "What do you mean huntress? Flee from what? How much time do we have?" _**_"Flee from Daver's encroaching army, Sanderval is no fool, and he was serious. If your group doesn't hurry they may not survive until the next sunrise. Go back to your campsite NOW and grab your packs, you will need them." _ Jade then looked at Rochelle, _"Bring your pack with you to Wren's camp site up there." _Jade said pointing to the top of a nearby building. _"It's time you learned what must be done, sister."_

_Heya guys! Well, here is chapter 5 for ya! I'll be working on Chapter 6 tomorrows, as I have told some other people I am going to make Rochelle seem like the useful character she COULD have been! :) I also have some other readers helping me out here, once i upload chapter 6 i want to go back and "refine" everything to make it flow better, meaning i want to add more detail, if you see ANYTHING that should have more detail, send me a message or leave a review in for me to fix it up! Any Refinements will be highlighted and (Refined) will be in the chapter name. Hope you guys enjoy this one! Sorry it's kinda short, its leading into Chapter 6 and explains somewhat where this story will go in the long run, hope i can make 6 worth the wait! :P_


	6. Chapter 6: Angels of Mercy

Chapter 6: Angels of Mercy

"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion." ~Mia Hamm

_"Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow." ~A. P. J. Abdul Kalam _

After reaching the top of the building Jade told Rochelle to set her pack down. _"Wren, you will need to carry this after what will happen today." _Then Jade looked at Rochelle, _"Do you trust me? Will you do what must be done to ensure the survival of the rest of this group?" _Rochelle didn't even hesitate, "I will do anything to make sure everyone else lives, now that I know you are still alive Jade," _"Good, because what will happen today may take everything you still have left." _Then Jade told them her plan.

_"There is a bridge that runs around the river, it is too deep for these infected to pass through, and it is made of wood. Hold on to these, Rochelle" _Jade handed her a beer bottle and a lighter. _"You will know when to use them." _Rochelle nodded, showing that she understood what these meant. She would not be leaving with the others. Jade then turned to Wren, _"You do what you have to in order to get them across that bridge, I don't care what they try to do, you break a leg and drag them across if it becomes necessary." _Wren nodded, **_"Will we meet again after today, Huntress?" _**Jade smirked, _"If you make it across the bridge, we will definitely meet again, and other much better circumstances, the end of these crazy infected."_ Wren nodded, understand what this meant, they would strike at the head of the snake and cut it off at its' roots, however long it may take. _"Now let us go, the infected are approaching fast and we need to start, the road to the bridge is crawling with infected, and I fear the encroaching army is larger than what I suspected, I hear more than just __**ONE**__ of Daver's lieutenants coming our way." _

Wren raised an eyebrow at Jade, _"What? Don't tell me you thought I would tell you everything, or that my mutations ended with claws and strength Wren, surely you are more perceptive than that? I think even you may be able to hear them within a couple minutes, although faintly."_ Wren nodded, and slowly they made their way down the steps to rejoin the others. Coach Nick and Ellis all looked at them as they came down, noticing Wren was carrying Rochelle's pack, and Coach asked the inevitable question, "So what's the plan youngins?" _"We leave immediately, having to cross some of the most infected parts of this city if you want to get out alive across the bridge." _

~~Rest of this chapter is pretty much fight scenes~~

So they were off, starting down the street they started to see what Jade had meant. The further and further they went into the city the more infected their seemed to be, but these were wild infected, not the crazed, brainwashed monstrosities that were even now closing in on them. They were fiercer, stronger, and moved with no purpose other than to kill and maim their targets for their meal. Working their way through the town the survivors took care of the common infected that littered the street while Jade and Wren did their best to take care of the special infected that hung in the rooftops and alley ways waiting for the humans to come into sight so they could strike. At one point there was too many specials for Wren and Jade to take care of, being surprised by several smokers spanning different rooftops, before Jade and Wren could take them all out one of the smokers was able to grab Nick, and broke his leg without even having to drag him up to where he was at to do it. They had to slow down, but they still had to hurry if they wanted to escape the city, but before they moved on they had to figure out whether or not the leg had to be splinted. "Shit Nick, y' ok to at least limp with some help?" "I-I don't know, overalls, this leg fuckin' hurts, that smoker was stronger than any of the other smokers that have gotten me before, bastard even broke my leg before he dragged me to him!" "C'mon youngin, I'll help ya out, we need t' get movin." Coach said, and took Nick's arm and brought it around his shoulder so he could help him move.

Moments down the street the survivors spotted a witch in the middle of the road. "Shit! How do we get around 'er guys?" Ellis asked. Jade hissed to Wren in the infected tongue _"Cover the rear! This one is mine!"_ Wren nodded and motioned for the other survivors to cover the rear so nothing got to them unexpectedly. Jade screeched a challenge to the witch who only looked up and became agitated. Jade screeched another challenge, _"Run or die Witch! Your choice!"_ At this the witch charged. Jade took no moment to hesitate, instead she leaped forward crashing into the witch and bringing to the ground. Quickly, Jade sliced off the witches hands, making her longer claws all but useless as they now laid on the ground uselessly in a growing pool of blood. By this time some of the infected had caught up to the survivors and were now pouring into the streets, getting closer and closer. The survivors had their reloads timed perfectly so that three were always firing while one had a chance to reload. A tank appeared out of nowhere, seeming more hell bent on catching them rather than killing them.

Jade heard the tank _*Shit, I didn't think it was really him!*_ at that Jade picked up the still angered witch and threw her towards the tank and screeched _"Tell your master he will die before this war ends!"_ After that she screeched in the human tongue _"RUN! TO THE BRIDGE!"_ Getting to the bridge they had to wade through yet another sea of infected. Slashing them down left and right with covering fire from behind Jade and Wren cleared the way across the bridge, it was a straight shot into the woods, they just had to get across. Jade yelled _"Rochelle! Wren! NOW!" _On cue Wren grabbed Nick who still had the injured leg and began dragging him along yelling frantically for Coach and Ellis to follow.

Rochelle rushed with Jade to the city side of the bridge. They stood side by side, "It was good to finally see you again, Jade." _"Likewise, sister. But do not fret, our journey will NOT end here."_ Rochelle gave Jade a smile. _"Then we better get ready."_ The tank was now barreling down the street with hundreds of infected behind him. _"Target the other infected, this tank is mine,"_ Rochelle nodded and began taking aim at the smaller infected all around the tank. Jade affixed the tank with a hateful glare, _"You will not survive this day, Baran. Your master sent you to your death!" _Jade lunged at the tank, determined to break his neck. She had no such luck, she couldn't stay still long enough to crack it to the side and end his life. What she did succeed in doing however, was pissing the tank off and forcing him to swing erratically, using his force and frantic swinging to bring down as many more infected as they could. While driving her claws into the tank's left arm hoping to immobilize it Jade yelled over to Rochelle _"Do it! Light the bridge! NOW!" _Rochelle set about to the grim task. She brought out the bottle and the lighter and lit it up. She threw it to the center of the bridge, where the fire was lit and slowly started to engulf the bridge to bring it into the waiting river below.

Ellis Coach and Nick looked back and saw the bridge on fire, Ellis yelled "No! C'mon we gotta go help 'em!" Wren affixed him with a glare **_"They know what they are doing! Don't turn back! RUN! NOW!" _**Jade yelled over the battle, _"DON'T STOP NOW! WE MEET AGAIN IN THE WEST!" _Grimly, the survivors kept going as much as they could into the woods without looking back, despairing at what may have become of their friends.

After the bridge had been set on fire Rochelle turned back to the battle, the tank was now badly wounded and had taken out most of the infected it had with it. She noticed savage claw marks leading down its left arm, which seemed to be useless now, blood seeping out of it so quickly she thought it almost looked like a waterfall of blood coming from its arm. Jade leaped from the back of the tank, landing next to Rochelle and started at it intently, staring him down, knowing he was close to death and was only taking his last breaths.

Baran affixed Jade with as much strength as he could muster, **"You know who comes next, little huntressss. Not even you can escape her wrath..."** Baran trailed off as his breathing stopped and his eyes glassed over in his head. Jade faintly heard a screech in the distance and cursed under her breath, _"Into the water! Now! He wasn't joking, we can't beat this one without dozens of people!"_

Wren was leading the survivors through the forest, with Nick held tightly to his back to keep him from falling off onto his broken leg. Above the sound of the crumbling bridge, the group heard the fiercest roar they have ever heard, **_"YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS JADE! NOTHING CAN KEEP YOU FROM MY WRATH!"_** They froze for a moment, afraid of what this meant. Begrudgingly, they kept going, trying to find somewhere far enough away from the city that they would be safe, but weren't sure how far they would have to go. They met little resistance in the woods but plenty of it, the only thing being found were feral commons.

After trudging through the woods for what seemed like days, the survivors happened upon a wooden shack, slowly, Wren used his claws to unlock the door and stepped inside to make sure it was safe. The sight they found almost made them regret even opening the door, they found dozens of corpses on the floor, ranging from babies to adults. _"These are no wounds from the infected... these people were shot where they stood..."_ They let those words sink in. This was not some mauling by the infected, these people were shot by other **_humans_**. They weren't sure what to do now but decided to try and avoid this shack and keep going on, maybe find another city. They decided to head north-west and try to make it to Alexandria, there had been more and more signs of life the further out from the city they went, even if it only meant more dead bodies of humans rather than infected. After trudging along through the forest for a few more hours they reached Alexandria. The city was eerily empty, no signs of life, dead or otherwise.

Eerily quiet or not the city was better than nothing. They walked into the city, keeping a close eye on their surroundings, they found a safe room door that was left ajar with dried blood on the handle. They stepped inside and found nothing in there, no bodies, no ammo, no weapons, no food, no medical kits or _anything_ this was unnatural for a safe room. After thoroughly checking out the room, the survivors and Wren sat down in a circle and took out their supplies. Wren took out some canned food and water and passed each of the survivors two cans and a bottle of water. They sat in silence for a few minutes and ate.

Ellis piped up after he was done and asked, "So... was that the plan y'all made up?" Nick and Coach both had their eyes drift over to Wren to wait for his answer. Wren sighed, **_"Yes, our plan was to eventually meet back up in the west of the country, where Daver has essentially walled it off from the rest of the world."_** They all let that sink in. Coach said "So then... they aren't really dead?" Wren shook his head, **_"I don't know._** **_Jade left those details to Rochelle and Rochelle only._**" Nick and Coach decided to let that drop and tried to get some rest. After about half an hour Ellis told Wren, "We should go out for a bit, I think we need t' talk."

They walked out of the safe room, down the street to explore the city a bit while they talked. "So.. why did you not tell us the plan? Why did Jade not think we could take it?" **_"She did not want to over burden the rest of the group. Her and Rochelle knew what would have to be done, and she wanted to avoid *heroics* of people trying to save them. She was the only one of this group that could have taken on that army of infected and come out alive Ellis." _**Ellis sighed, "So, do you think they made it out alive?" Wren shrugged, **_"I heard a splash after that roar, like someone had jumped into the water, but beyond that I don't know." _** Ellis perked up at that, at least being given some hope as to the safety of the other two members of their group. Then he looked at Wren, "So, you got two empty packs left, what do you think we should look for?" Wren shrugged, not really sure what to get. **_"Want to walk around for a bit and see if anything useful comes up?" _**Ellis nodded, their little scavenging run was a go.

They walked down the street and found a gun store. Quickly going inside they found plenty of ammo but only a few weapons. Walking over to the counter Wren found a grenade launcher, fully loaded, **_"What do you think a grenade launcher is doing in here?"_** Ellis shrugged, "Might as well take it since nobody else seems to be around here anyway." Wren strapped the grenade launcher to his back and started going through some boxes. He brought out some flashlights and batteries and put them into his pack. Wren decided to go see if there was anything up the stairs. He walked up and found a box labeled _*attachments*_ and opened it up, it was full of silencers! Wren picked up the box and rushed it down to Ellis, setting it down with a satisfied smile. Ellis looked inside the box and whistled, "Good find Wren!" He patted Wren on the head and Wren gave off a slight little purr.

While they were looking through stuff Wren heard voices outside, **"Where do you think all these crazy infected are coming from?" ****_"I don't know, but I'm not sure how much longer we can keep them out and keep the sane ones in." _**Ellis looked at Wren and whispered, "Do y' think these are good guys?" Wren shrugged and moved to go peek out the window. These guys were definitely infected, but with what looked like very, very, slight mutations. He could see one that looked like it had small claws and the other gave off an acrid smoke smelling suspiciously like a smoker. Wren walked backed to Ellis and stood by him, they waited for the two to pass, and they did. Suddenly, someone busted through the back door of the building, rushing over there Ellis and Wren found some crazed common infected rushing in so fast they almost collided with each other rounding the corner. One of the infected crashed into Ellis and took him to the floor while Wren wrestled with the other two. He took the head of one infected and smashed it against the wall, while the other got thrown off and into the wall. Wren grabbed a crowbar sitting next to him on the floor and shoved it into the infected's head and it died on the spot.

Wren stood there for a moment, wondering where the infected had come from and why he hadn't hurt them, and suddenly he heard a scream from Ellis, he turned around and Ellis had blood coming out of his shoulder and the infected was still attacking him. Protective rage surged through Wren's mind. He rushed over and picked up the infected and hurled him against the wall. They stood toe to toe for a minute before it finally rushed at Wren. Wren wasted no time in striking, preparing to uppercut the infected he did so with so much force he sent its head into the ceiling where it just hung there, dangling while blood dripped to the floor. Wren quickly grabbed Ellis and swung him onto his back. Wren launched himself up onto a rooftop across the street and took out the little bit of gauze and alcohol he had with him and started cleaning Ellis' wound, unfortunately, it was covered up by Ellis' tattered shirt and he couldn't get much of anywhere with it. _"Take the shirt off"_ Wren said to Ellis, and he obeyed, with a lot of help from Wren since he couldn't very well move his right arm right now. After Wren had cleaned out the wound they put Ellis' shirt back on and sat there for a moment recovering. Ellis looked at Wren and told him "Y' know Wren, I've been wanting to tell ya somethin' for a while now, and I wasn't really sure how to say it." Wren raised an eyebrow at Ellis, _"What do you mean?" _"Well, 'm not really sure how to say this but, I think I might be... in love wit' ya." Wren's eyes went wide with shock, not expecting to have ever heard this confession from Ellis. Ellis' face was turning red at the look he was getting from Wren, "Sorry, just thought I would tell y-" Wren covered Ellis' mouth with his hand and smiled. _"Don't worry, it's fine" _Wren then leaned in and gave Ellis a hug.

They sat there in quiet happiness for a few minutes and then heard something in a coarse voice say, "What are you doing here?" They turned around, wondering who it was that had said something. What they found was an odd sight, a hunter with short claws, and a smoker with two eyes, it seemed to be the group they had seen earlier that night.

_Okay, so now I'm going to focus on going back over the other chapters to see if I can refine them in any way shape or form. Might spend maybe a week on this so I can make sure the story can flow to the best of my ability. Don't worry I will be slowly working on Chapters 7 and so on while doing this, I just looked at them and felt like I should atleast try to make those really short (under 3k) chapters more detailed and thorough._

_~~~SPOILER ALERT~~~_

_If you are wondering what happened to Jade and Rochelle don't worry! They will make an appearance way down the line in this story and once this goes for several more chapters I will make another side story titled __**"Jade's Gambit"**__ and it will be on how Rochelle and Jade are going through the rest of the story. If you have ever read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow it would pretty much go like those two books, different perspectives. Note: Any refinements/edits to chapters will be highlighted.  
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	7. Chapter 7: Walls Crumble

Chapter 7: Walls Crumble

_"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." ~ Dorothy Thompson_

_"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when Men are afraid of the light" ~ Plato_

**_~Note: Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to put something up. Was looking into a new computer because this laptop was starting to bug out on me, so I'm getting that put in tonight and it will hopefully be done with updates/installations in the next day or so. Got this chapter up and longer than most just for you guys! Please remember to leaves reviews/ideas that i can use for future chapters! Especially would love to hear ideas on a name to use for the Smoker that is leading the human/infected! Ideas as well for lieutenants for Daver, what they are or even something new! Thinking about putting in some kind of infected wildlife that are being used as some of his most dangerous soldiers. Hope you guys enjoy!_**

Ellis moved to get up but Wren pushed him back down with one hand and let loose a threatening growl at their intruders. He snarled in the infected tongue _"Give me one reason not to rip you to shreds right now."_ The smoker eyed his hunter companion, "Because, I think we may be able to shed some light on your situation, don't think you came into _**our**_ city undetected little hunter. Nobody steps inside this place without us knowing about it. We know where you hid in the gun store earlier. We know you thought we passed, we still kept a watchful eye on you, and truthfully, we are quite curious about you specifically." _"You have nothing I don't already know, nothing you could say would give me __**any**__ possible insight as to what I have to do._ "Oh, I'm certain we do little friend, after all, Jade is the one who told us to be expecting you."

Wren's face was eerily calm, but Ellis could feel his labored breathing, he could _**barely**_ contain his rage at the mention of Jade's name, whose *_sacrifice*_was still present in their minds after the burning of the bridge. The smoker eyed Wren as he stepped forward, extending the claws on his right hand while doing so. _"There are lines that you should not cross. I suggest you step back over that line before you regret it." _

Ellis saw the Smoker's momentary hesitation about what to do and then he began, "I guess I should start by explaining what Jade was doing then." he said, "Jade used to be Daver's second hand, she was what you might call, his *Shoulder Angel*, she stopped him from going insane, for a time. She would convince him not to harm humans, to leave them alone, to build apart from the human civilization. She _knew_ we were not what we once were, but Daver soon grew insane. Most infected followed him out of loyalty, not knowing anything else since they became infected. The rest of us, those who aren't considered feral by the other infected, the *wild* infected, so to speak, that you run into, followed Jade, knowing that we couldn't risk an all out war knowing we would be wiped off the face of the planet. Many of us could retain peaceful states of mind, with varying degrees of the infection, as you can see by my friend and myself here, we don't have the... extreme, I guess you would say, degree of the infection that morphs our bodies, not the outside anyway, but we still have... the *advantages* of an infected. My friend here, he has the eyes, ears, and movement of a hunter, but relatively underdeveloped claws, as he woke up rather quickly after he was infected. You see, the infection is an odd disease. It changes us yes, but only changes us for as long as our first sleep after we are infected, but it will always try to warp the mind, even if you do not realize it, we all have barriers up to prevent the primal feelings and desires of each strand of the infection, the hunter's feelings, obviously are of the hunt, to kill, maim, shred, and feel the bloodlust they get from a kill to drive them on to the next. Sadly, not many strains of the infection morph into things that don't concern some aspect of a war.

"The witch, for example, symbolically mind you, these are all symbolic things that we have pieced together, embodies the sorrow of a war. The hunters being the... "super" soldier, relishing in the feel of death, the Smoker, like myself, see most things more strategically than other infected, which is why you often see them trying to hide while they try to choke someone to death, the vomiters, the "boomers" as you call them, always call on others to aid them once they cover something in that revolting bile, a kind of *Rallying Point* if you will. The tanks show of the brute force of an army, blindly attacking without thought or regard for what might happen, the *Spitter* as you call it, showcases the urge some have to completely and utterly _annihilate_ what they find, reducing it to nothing but rubble and piles of ooze. The charger, brings about the impatience of war, rushing headlong into the fight without a thought to whether or not it would survive. Lastly, the Jockey, oddly, this creature resembles some odd form of an assassin's behavior, while obviously not stealthy or quiet kills, have you not noticed how they always seem to try and take you plummeting to your death, or into a crowd of zombies, rather than try to kill you their selves? I, myself, would almost call it a cowardly form of a hunter, but with the same idea of singling someone out to kill."

Wren sat there with a quizzical and analytical look as the Smoker went on. This was more information about the infected than he knew of or what Jade had told him, though most of what he was saying the smoker admitted was just things they came up with, theoretically it made sense with the way some of the infected acted. _"Enough of what they infected __**are**__, I want to know how you came to know... Jade..."_ "Ah yes... when Jade saw what Daver was becoming, and what he would do to us, she gathered those of us who would follow _her_ and not Daver, and she began to take us out, in search of a place that we could survive. We happened on this quaint little town, far from the prying eyes of the military. Here we grew, and here our understanding of the infection did as well. We've expanded to cities in this state and in a couple others, abandoned cities, offering shelter to any survivors or infected that cross our path and do not seek war. But make no mistake, we do _**not**_ seek out war, that does not mean we will not _**bring**_ it to whomever may attack us. We may not be as warmongering as Daver's army but we have an advantage on our side that not even that crazed old fool could see, we have the advantage of _**EVERY**_ single one of us being able to create their own strategy, own ways of attack, rather than following the words of a single madman."

"When Jade left, she informed me and my friend here of what she was doing. She said she was tracking a scent, and that if it was who she thought it was, then soon all out war would be coming with her. She was no fool though, she knew Daver has had his scouts keep a close eye on her, some of us volunteered to go with us, but she refused us, _*You need to keep things together while I'm gone, none of you have transformed as much as me, I would rather you stay and live than follow me and die*_ with those final words, she left us tracking a scent that I assume traveled with you two?"

Wren nodded and replied to him in the infected tongue, _"She was tracking her sister, and in doing so brought a few of Daver's lieutenants down around us and the city we were in. The first one she called Sanderval, and the second from what I was able to hear while we fled the city was called Baran. After that though, I heard no name as to the last lieutenant, but what I heard was a roar that seemed to shake the very earth itself. I don't know what came of it but shortly after, almost immediately, I heard a splash in the water. We walked for several hours before coming upon this town, it seemed deserted though, although now it seems my thoughts were not correct." _The smoker smirked, "Our sentries are well hidden hunter, and rightly so, we can't make it _too_ easy to be spotted, otherwise we would have no warning of defense if Daver ever invaded this town. But answer me this, you said you heard a splash, and a roar that seemed to shake the earth? You also said the bridge was burning correct?" Wren nodded. "Excuse me and my friend for a moment we need to talk about... something..." They stepped a few meters away and whispered in such hushed tones not even Wren's ears could make out what they were saying.

Ellis looked up at Wren, having been quiet this whole time and asked him in a hushed voice, "What's goin' on? Who are these guys?" Wren motioned to them _"F-f-frienddssss... Jade..."_ Ellis nodded, understanding what Wren was saying, it seemed to get easier for him overtime, both Ellis' understanding of Wren's short phrases, and Wren's ability to form words, but it did seem that some infected always struggled with the same letters, or would draw some of them out, like the s, almost like it was some kind of... _accent_ they could have. The smoker and hunter both walked back over, "I think we have something you should see, if you would be so kind as to follow us?" Wren nodded, wrapping Ellis' arm around his shoulder so he could help him walk.

They got down to the bottom of the building and began walking down the street, towards a part of town that had a more denser assortment of buildings, and they seemed less overgrown and touched by the infection that had begun to seep into everything and everyone. After a couple minutes of walking the smoker held up his hand to talk, "Hunter," he said look at Wren, "Can I take a moment of your time to explain something to you? It just came to my mind and it will be something you need to hear in the long run, If you will let your friend down Ace can watch him, we won't be long."

Wren gave him a slight growl, _"If anything happens to him I will __**personally**__ rip out your throat and send you to hell."_ "I will oblige you if it comes to that, though I'm sure Ace can keep that in check, he is one of our best." Ellis raised an eyebrow at Wren, sensing his discomfort and gestured for him to go on with the Smoker. They walked into a nearby alleyway, out of ear shot of Ellis. The smoker stopped and turned back to Wren. "I'll try to make this quick, I have obviously noticed your attachment and worry for that man, but this is important, and it is probably something I should have remembered earlier when I was telling you what we have learned about the infected. We all have a trigger of some sort that can help us build an extremely strong barrier against the infected part of our minds. Most have the same... _type_ of trigger. Most of our hunters have had their barriers triggered by an intense desire to protect someone or something. But the downside, if anything happens to that person or thing, the spark ignites. You've displayed it in your protectiveness of that man. I'm sure you felt an overwhelming rage when that shoulder wound of his occurred? Would I also be correct to guess that is why when we went back to the store we happened to find the corpse of an infected hanging from the ceiling with its head stuck in it?" Wren nodded _"You don't miss a single detail do you smoker?"_ "Not quite often, no. But that did seem like a nice little comical touch, even added a little bit of decor to the place." He finished that with a smile, but Wren didn't return it. "Anyway, what I'm saying is, you need to try to control the rage you get, some of our hunter's couldn't control it when something terribly bad happened and they went on a rampage and had to be... put down... for lack of a better term to use..." Wren let that sink in, he could not possibly think he would actually _**harm**_ Ellis, after all the only reason he got that rage was because he wanted to _**protect**_ him. The news from this smoker was disturbing to say the least, while he didn't really trust the smoker himself, he could hear the truth behind his words. Wren would have to watch himself to make sure he didn't do anything to hurt Ellis or any of the other humans. They rejoined "Ace" and Ellis. Once again, Wren threw Ellis' arm over his shoulder so he could support him while he walked.

Once they had fallen behind a little bit Ellis whispered to Wren, "What were y' guys talkin' about?" Wren motioned to Ellis, and then to himself. "Both of us?" Wren nodded. "What did he tell you?" Wren tried to think of how to form those words in his mind and spoke out, _"Rage... in check."_ Ellis nodded, noticing Wren's fury escalate anytime he got hurt. He should try not to make that a habit, Wren could be truly terrifying when he was _**truly**_ pissed off, and that seemed to happen every time an infected even so much as _looked_ at Ellis like he was a meal.

` They got down to where the infected, and surprisingly, humans as well had tried to made a home out of what they could with this town. Walking along the Smoker tried to explain it to them, "You see, not everyone here is infected. Not everyone that is or isn't infected holds the same fears of the other side. Much like you two probably did, they came to trust each other in similar ways, you might notice how some of our infected brethren seem more... drawn to, or closer to some humans than they do to the others. This is because much like you, hunter, they rekindled a spark of their lost humanity by helping them." Wren noticed then, how many of the infected seemed to be very close with small groups, or even single humans, keeping watchful eyes on them, though not as closely as Wren did with Ellis, but he assumed that was because Wren and Ellis have never seen anything like this before, and obviously, held suspicions of what would happen to them. Wren wondered at this for a moment, and asked the smoker an odd question, _"Do infected... reproduce?"_ The smoker actually laughed at that question, "You might find it strange but.. yes, we do. My daughter is around here somewhere, although you might not believe it when you see her, we didn't even believe it at first." After that the smoker got lost in happy thoughts and memories.

"I think we can stop by my place real quick, so you guys can see what I meant when I said you might find it strange." They walked toward the center of the group of buildings, and apparently his "place" was one of the rooms that were in what seemed to be an improvised apartment building. They climbed up three floors and went to the room all the way down the hall. Inside they found another smoker, this one a woman, and a child running around the small room. She was human, Wren could smell infection on her but... she didn't appear to be infected. "I told you guys, you might find it strange... well, infected _can_ reproduce, but it seems that in that respect, it doesn't affect our offspring, it's as if they were born and we just had like a flu or cough, nothing that would actually deform a baby that was being born, quite strange it seems though, with how severe some of the infection can get, one must wonder how much it will take before it shows in the infected's offspring." "Yes dear, it does." the other Smoker said with a smile.

"Yes it does, but, as I said earlier, most of us here don't have the most severe parts of the infection, granted you can tell that because most of us look probably around ninety percent human still, for example I have two eyes instead of three fourths of my body being covered in tumors, and I'm sure you noticed Ace had very short claws for a hunter." Wren nodded, the differences were obvious but they were also as numerous just as well. Not a single one of these... *sane?* infected looked the same, some hunters had short claws, some had longer claws. Some of the smokers had two visible eyes, some didn't, and some just had scarred over tissue where it looked like they clawed off tumors. Sometimes though, some of the infected only seemed to look different in one way compared to their crazed counterparts, like the charger, the only difference Wren could see is that these chargers had two arms the same size, and not one shriveled up and useless.

They walked down the street when the Smoker suddenly turned toward Ace. "It's been a while without a report from the sentries... go find out what is keeping them." Ace nodded at the Smoker and took off to see why a report had no come in yet. They came to a stop on the side of a building and the Smoker began digging a hole. After about a foot of digging he brought out a chest and opened it to show Wren and Ellis what was inside. There was another locket, identical to the one Rochelle had and a note, _*There is two sides to every coin, and sometimes more. But make no mistake, this war will end on only one side of the coin. I just hope that what is left of any civilization will still be able to stand the test of time and not succumb to Daver's armies.*_ They realized what this meant, Jade had meant to take Rochelle with her. "So, what exactly is Ms. Jade doin'?" _"She is taking her sister with her to find whatever infected she can that would rather live free and only weaken Daver by taking out his lieutenants and his cities. Ace is coming, I need to see why our sentries have taken so long to bring me a report."_

He walked away to stand by Ace who had just gotten back and was breathing hard. They talked in hushed tones for a minute and Wren could only make out a few words _*two humans... lots of feral infected...*_ When they walked back over Wren could see worry written across the smokers face. "You need to come with me, NOW." They quickly sprinted off and what they found surprised Wren and Ellis both, they saw two hunters quickly running with Nick and Coach in tow being followed by the biggest horde of common infected they have ever seen. Closer to Wren and Ellis, stood a wall of human/infected and other survivors, waiting for them to get behind the wall before they let loose a spray of bullets that downed almost three dozen common infected. Unfortunately, they were still swarming and they looked to number in the hundreds. The smoker walked up to them "If you wish to know more and live to see another day and cities like this stand tall, you will join the fight against these damned infected."

Wren looked up at Ellis, and Ellis looked down at him. "Whatever happens buddy, it was nice to have gotten to know ya." With that, they rushed to the front of the wall to face the incoming infected. Ellis stayed back with the humans while the infected were in front, shooting down whatever zombies they could before they reached the line. The smoker, who they now realized led these infected, was shouting orders to the infected on what to do, almost like a well trained military unit he was using the specific actions of each type of infected to effectively bring down dozens of zombies in short amounts of time. "Spitters! Fire at the middle of the incoming horde!" They all did so, and what happened was a mass weakening of the incoming horde. Dozens of zombies lay on the ground, dissolving from the acid while any of those that still dared to move forward were dissolving as well in the burning acid, the smoker had effectively used his people to cut off half of the incoming horde. "Chargers get ready, if they get within ten feet you take as many of them as far as you can, hunters be ready to slice into them!"

Wren was at the forefront of the infected lines, even standing in front of the line of chargers. His vision started to turn red at the thought of what would happen to Ellis and anyone else if these infected managed to get past them, he thought back to the smoker's little girl, and knew that if they failed here, any hope for people to live on might very well be crushed. Wren poured such anger and hatred into his growling screech that everything on both sides momentarily halted, _**"This day, this city stands, and you DIE!"**_ Wren launched himself into the front of the horde that had stopped moving, sensing the purity of Wren's rage in his voice. Wren started slashing them down left and right and soon had cleared back almost ten feet into the mob of infected.

The human/infected forces stood back and watched, some horrified, some almost in awe at how quickly this lone hunter was taking down this gigantic horde of infected. Slowly, the feral infected seemed to notice their chances of surviving weren't very high and they started to try and flee. Wren would not give them that chance. Clearing even further into the mob of infected Wren was quickly reaching the back of their lines, not even the infected that were furthermost back had yet to realize the danger they were in. Wren had killed all of them, the three hundred or so remaining infected, in no more than ten minutes. The cities guards just stood there, horrified, Wren was soaked in blood and they could feel hatred emanating off from him in waves, nobody dared to say anything or even move after that, they actually thought he might turn on them.

Wren couldn't control what was going through his mind _***Blood! Yes! MORE BLOOD! Kill! Maim! Destroy! MORE BLOOD!**_ His infected mind was screaming, he wasn't sure he could control it. Suddenly, he heard a voice, all but faintly from behind him, "W-w... Wren?" Wren turned, and he saw Ellis standing in front of the crowd, every single one of them had the most horrified expression on their faces. He looked down at his hands, he was soaked in blood, a dark crimson read staining every part of his body, and then he noticed his vision was still red. He could still feel his infected mind pulsating, trying to gain control over him on this killing spree he had just... _enjoyed_. He took one last look up at Ellis, he could see the fear in Ellis' eyes. Without a single word, Wren turned around and fled the city, to get away from them, worried he might turn against them and kill everyone, even Ellis.


	8. Chapter 8: Domesticated

Chapter 8: Domesticated

_"__You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." ~Maya Angelou _

"Control your own destiny or someone else will." ~Jack Welch

**Hey guys! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, tried to make it as descriptive as I could so you could really imagine what was going on! Yes, this chapter is set up differently than most of the others but somewhat similar to what I did with chapter 1, hopefully it gave a better idea of what was going out after Chapter 7 panned out :)**

~Wren~

He'd been running for almost an hour now. Hacking and slashing his way through anything he came across, rounding the outskirts of the city. The only thought that was running through Wren's mind was to try and sate the savage beast that was running rampant through his mind. _*Kill, maim, feast. Blood!* _Wren obliged it, hoping that it would soon die down. Not knowing how long he had been out Wren was finding fewer and fewer feral infected to take his rage out on and the beast was still screaming for more. Crouching low he put his head to the air, catching a faint scent of a hunter that had slowly crept into the city. He followed the trail and could only faintly make out that it was getting closer and closer to the base that the human and infected alike were using as a home within the city. Once he had caught sight of the hunter he recognized that this was not one that would belong with the rest of the humans and infected in this city. This hunter had longer claws, and its skin even looked necrotic, as if the thing was decaying itself alive.

As he got closer he notice the hunter was feasting on _something_. He could see it only after he had gotten within maybe fifty yards from the thing, it was eating the corpse of an infected, and Wren noticed the bones of many more that littered the ground around it. _*Kill it! Eat it! It is OURS!* _*No! I am not a savage beast!* _*Oh but you are little one! This is not __**YOUR**__ body it is __**MINE!* **_*No! You don't control me you damned freak!* _*Oh but you will never be rid of me! We are one and the same now! Feed me! Make us stronger! Kill kill kill!* _As if on cue, the decaying hunter turned and stared directly at Wren and it let loose a guttural screech. Wren took the initiative and dove head on into the hunter, both tumbling to the ground and growling so viciously even a tank would back down.

Without wasting anytime Wren got back to his feet and turned toward the hunter, but it was already back on its feet and charging toward him at an alarming rate. Wren prepared himself to kick up and send the hunter flying over him but it was faster than he thought and before he could react the hunter had already raked its claws across one of his arms, drawing blood, but the pain was nothing more than a pin in Wren's mind, his infected half still in control demanding more blood. _*It hurt us! Kill it! Break its bones!*_ Wren would oblige it, even if to do nothing more than to get rid of this abomination that was stalking its way around the city. Watching the necrotic hunter closely Wren was slowly able to start watching its moves more closely, making sure to try and keep his distance until he was sure that he could take it with some kind of hit. The hunter made a slight over calculation and Wren took his chance. As the hunter over shot Wren's arm he grabbed it, swung the hunter around, and hurtled him into the wall of the nearest building, with a sickening crack Wren saw part of the building collapse on top of the hunter.

_*Kill it! It's still not dead! More blood! NOW!*_ the hunter could recover unusually fast. It took that hunter no more than five seconds to recover from being thrown into the wall and even having the wall collapse on top of him. The hunter was back on his feet after Wren with an evil gleam in its eye, **_"You will know pain, hunter."_** This hunter knew how to speak. Wren caught a glimpse of its mouth; flesh was decaying and flaking away at the corners of the opening to its mouth. Wren could see rotted yellow teeth on the inside, all of them pointed and covered in blood from its latest meal. One bite from those teeth looked like it would be enough to even puncture through metal; Wren would not take that chance and kept as much distance from that thing's mouth as he could.

It leapt at Wren, with the cold determined look of a killer in its eyes. Wren was still working slower than this hunter was, and could barely escape some of the moves that it was using against him and he still had nothing to counter its speed. It was obvious that this hunter was now being more careful since its overshot causing it to be thrown into a wall. Wren managed to land a swipe at the hunter's arm, causing it to bleed; it leaped backwards about three feet, blood was now slowly trickling down its arm to the ground. Without even the slightest bit of an indication that it was attacking it leaped on Wren and bit into his shoulder, taking out a small chunk. Then, before it had even finished leaping back from Wren, he let loose the most guttural shrieking cry he has ever made and it could be heard for miles around, now anything that was within the city would be converging on this spot soon to find out what was going on.

~Ellis

Wren had turned and fled without as much as a single word. Being covered in blood and having a bloodthirsty look present in his eyes, he turned and fled, with loud ragged breaths and gasps audible from even fifty feet away. Ellis tried to run after him but the smoker grabbed him and held him back, "No! He gave in to his rage don't even go near him! There is no telling what he might do!" _"I don't care if I just had my arm ripped off! I'm going after him, __**alone**__ if I have to!"_ was the only reply the smoker got from Ellis. The infected formed a wall in front of Ellis along with Nick and Coach watching, afraid of what might happen if Ellis went after Wren. "Ellis," Nick said as softly as he could to try and reassure him, "We don't know what just happened, he might kill you if he sees you, I mean c'mon, he just took out like, three hundred infected on his **_own_** and he didn't even so much as get hit, it was almost like he was **_enjoying_** it." _"You don't know him Nick, so shut yer mouth."_ Ellis almost yelled this at Nick with rage present in his voice.

**"****Now youngin' c'mon now, we are just trying to look out for ya, we don't want ya dying on us now." **_"Don't even try to talk me out of this Coach, he ain't going to kill me and I __**know**__ he won't. So don't even try to stop me from going out."_ Nick and Coach both sighed. **"Youngin, if you're going out, at least take a shotgun with plenty of ammo and some supplies ok? We don't know how many of those crazy zombies might still be walkin' around this city."** Ellis stalked away over to their supplies, angered that they would even **try** to stop him from going out looking for Wren, who do they think he is? He isn't some kind of rabid animal; he's been helping them for a long time now, keeping them safe, risking his life, and bringing them almost anything they needed! Ellis could not believe that they just threw Wren under the bus like that the second he ran way seemingly taken over by his infected mind. Ellis went through everything, grabbing some of whatever he could think of in case something was wrong, pain killers, gauze, iodine, alcohol, medical wrap, food and water.

Ellis went out of the camp to search for Wren. Encountering strange looking infected on the way, even though he only found some common infected that looked this way they still took a lot longer to bring down than anything else. They almost looked as if they were rotting alive; their skin was flaking away and was a deep ashen gray color. Their eyes were like tiny little slits in a pure white ball, almost as if the eyes had turned to seem like a cat or a snake's eye, Ellis wondered if this might give then some kind of enhanced eyesight. One of the most peculiar things about these infected was that nothing seemed to stop them, save for a decapitation or breaking the neck, not even a shotgun blast to the head was enough to bring one of these things down. Ellis decided to just walk along with his axe out, ready to slice the head off of any of these weird infected that he came across.

Ellis walked toward the outskirts of the city and found a trail of footprints. They were fresh, but there was more than one set here. There seemed to be at least two distinct sets, and then many sets that seemed to be about the same as if a horde had just passed through here. That is when he heard it, Ellis heard the most blood curdling shriek since the infection started it almost shattered his ear drums, Ellis could hear sounds coming from outside of the city, other infected responding to the sound that they had just heard, soon Ellis could see them rushing towards the city, but they were now being stopped by the Sentries that roamed around the city, most likely because they were now just lone infected and not the massive horde that had tried to kill them all earlier. Ellis noticed that all of the sentries were either hunters or smokers, hunters pouncing onto the infected and ripping them to shreds while the smokers just pulled them up and snapped their necks in two.

Ellis followed the trail of foot prints frantically, wanting to find out what had caused the scream. Ellis found a few more of these rotted infected on his way following the trail. They seemed to be almost guarding the trail, rather than trying to follow it, _*Hmm, might be a bad sign that these guys look like they might be guardin' the trail…*_ Ellis walked on a little farther after dispatching a few infected by chopping off their heads with his axe. The smell hit him before he ever saw it. The smell of dozens of rotting bodies assaulted his nose and made him double over, almost vomiting from the extreme nausea that had just hit him when he walked closer to the clearing that was up ahead. Then he saw them, Wren and a hunter that looked just like some of these strange infected, his flesh was rotting away, he had slits in his eyes, and his teeth for pointed and jagged, and they looked sharp enough to pierce steel.

Ellis took a quick look at Wren, he had a wound in his shoulder that was seeping blood, _*Shit!*_ was Ellis' only thought, he took out his shotgun and aimed it at the hunter and fired. The shotgun was right on its mark, five shots seemed to make contact with the hunter but he turned slowly with a look of hatred in his eyes, the shots didn't even faze him. Not even the slightest hint that the bullets had actually touched him was present on his face, only the sheer hatred in its eyes at its fight being interrupted by someone else.

Wren looked to the sight and saw Ellis, **_"No what the fuck is he doing here?!"_** _*More blood! Kill them both, we are hungry! More blood!* __***No! Get the fuck out of my damn head!***_ Wren saw the anger in the hunter's eyes before it even turned his head, if this hunter was having it so easy even with Wren Ellis wouldn't stand a chance. Before the hunter could even launch away Wren brought back his good arm and landed a hit square into the hunter's face sending him flying backwards about twenty feet. The hunter got up, looking around for a moment concerned with who it should go after, the hunter decided to go back after Wren and finish him off. Ellis tried to close the distance to Wren before the hunter had recovered, and only made it about half way before that hunter leaped back on to Wren and they began clawing and slashing at each other.

Ellis took his aim again and let loose another spray of bullets into the hunter, this time they seemed to faze him and he slowed a bit, but he didn't even _bleed,_ it was as if he no longer even had blood running through his veins. The hunter cocked his head towards Ellis _"Do you REALLY think that will do anything to me human?"_ Ellis was stunned, this hunter had such control of himself that he could speak so easily, but it came out which such stone cold malice that it made it hard to move or to even react to what the hunter was saying. Ellis pulled out his axe as quickly as he could and swung it as hard as he could at the hunter's arm. It connected extremely hard, but only succeeded in getting stuck in the hunter's arm, connected to the bone but yet drawing no pain what-so-ever from the hunter.

In the next moment, Ellis saw several things flash across the hunter's face: Rage, confusing, grief, and a hint of pain. The hunter slowly turned to look at Wren, who was still pinned beneath the hunter, and then turned to look back at Ellis, and understanding flashed through his eyes. Ellis could see that this hunter was actually struggling with himself for control. A low growl came out of the hunter's mouth, and slowly he began to speak. _"There are things in this world one should control and things that one shot not even attempt to control. Things both understood and things not even comprehensible. As Benjamin Disraeli once said, "Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our power." Never stop fighting for control."_ He slowly got off Wren and looked at him, _"Relinquishing control will only bring death, and trying to control it will never work forever, you must FORCE it to obey you, fight it back down. The only thing that will be able to bring you out of your infected mind's control is the reason that it came to control you in the first place."_

Pulling the axe out of his arm, the hunter handed it back to Ellis. _"Even now my mind is fighting with itself again, be glad that I was able to momentarily take control, or you would both be dead on the ground you're standing on. Make no mistake; there are others like me, as I'm sure the human here saw my little underlings on his way here. The Decayed hold no allegiance but to their own selves. They will stop at nothing to kill anyone and anything that is not part of the decayed, they war against human and infected alike. Now, human, finish it, before my mind is lost again and you both lie dead on the ground."_

Ellis nodded at the hunter "Thank y'" Ellis brought the axe back and brought it down on the hunter's neck, disconnecting his head from his body. Ellis was right, these things do not seem to have blood any longer running through their body, the only thing that happened was that its body began to decay even faster, turning in a pile of dust, they must have a mind so strong that just by sheer willpower they can hold their bodies together. Ellis turned toward Wren with an angry look on his face, "Y' ever do somethin' that stupid again and I will kick yer ass m' damn self, Wren!" Wren looked at Ellis, and then back to his shoulder, it was still sleeping blood, and he could feel his consciousness waning from the loss of blood. Wren looked back to Ellis and saw the anger on his face, Wren couldn't do much more than point to his shoulder, his eyes slowly closing, and then passed out at Ellis' feet.

Ellis stood their dumb struck as Wren pointed at his shoulder and collapsed, *Shit! All I'm doin' is yelling at 'im while he's bleedin' t' death!* Ellis sat his pack and gun down and got to work on Wren's shoulder, pulling out some gauze and soaking it with Iodine to clean out the wound, after Ellis got it as cleaned out as he could he wrapped the wound up as tightly as he could so it would stop bleeding. Then, he took out some pain killers and water. Taking out a few pills Ellis pushed them into Wren's mouth with water and massaged his throat, eventually getting Wren to swallow them down in his sleep.

After about half an hour Wren woke up, groggier than Ellis had been since the first week of the infection. Wren looked up at Ellis, noting that he no longer had red staining his vision, and the control of his infected side seemed to be subdued for the moment, he felt no urge to kill Ellis or to go out looking for blood. Wren leaned his head into Ellis, who still had not realized that Wren had woken up, and let out a small purring sound. Ellis looked at Wren and had a smirk cross his face, "Awake sleepy bug?" Wren nodded, "H-hungryyyy" Ellis' eyes widened, and he looked through the pack and brought out a few cans of food. He opened them up and helped Wren, who scarfed them down viciously like he hadn't eaten in days, which he probably hadn't Ellis couldn't remember the last time he ever saw Wren eat something.

They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Ellis said, "Buddy, if y' ever scare the shit out of me like that again, I will kick your ass six ways to Sunday m'self. Do y' hear me?" Wren nodded and gave Ellis a little chuckle, and Ellis smiled at that. After a few more minutes Ellis sat Wren up and looked him in the eye. Wren cocked his head quizzically, wondering what Ellis wanted. Ellis leaned in and gave Wren a deep, passionate kiss that seemed to last forever. Ellis pulled back after a minute, his face turning red and said, "I jus' wanted y' to know how much you mean to me, Wren." Wren nodded, sighed, and laid his head against Ellis' shoulder, there they sat in silence, enjoying each other's company for as long as they could.


End file.
